Houston Expanding its RecycleBank Program

Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Solid Waste Management Department Director Harry Hayes announced that 54,000 additional Houston households will receive 96-gallon recycling carts with the rewards-for-recycling program RecycleBank.

In an effort to encourage more recycling and greener behavior, Houston partnered with RecycleBank, rolling out recycling carts to more than 22,000 homes last year, and began offering single-stream recycling. Following the success of the roll out, the Houston City Council approved a budget to purchase an additional 54,000 recycling carts in January. The addition will push the total number of houses being served by the RecycleBank program to more than 76,000 by this April.

In the first four months of Houston’s RecycleBank’s program, participating households more than doubled the amount they recycled. Along with reducing the amount diverted to recycling, Houston also saved close to $44,000 in landfill disposal costs.

The first phase of Houston’s RecycleBank program was sponsored in part by Alcoa and Texas Instruments and through a grant from the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

RecycleBank operates in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, as well as in 25 states and in the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.RecycleBank.com.