NEWS RELEASE

City of Houston
Annise D. Parker, Mayor

Solid Waste Management Department
Harry J. Hayes, Director

For Immediate Release
August 10, 2010

For more information, please contact:
Marina A. Joseph (713) 837-9164 office; (713) 504-4009 cellular

N. MAIN NEIGHBORHOOD DEPOSITORY and RECYCLING CENTER OPENS: REUSE WAREHOUSE CELEBRATES 1st YEAR

The City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department opened its new Neighborhood Depository and Recycling Center in North Houston on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 9003 North Main, Houston, TX 77022.

This state-of-the-art facility consists of a concrete ramp for unloading heavy trash into 40 cubic yard roll-off boxes (“dumpsters”) and a service building, as well as a drop-off site for recycling. Solid Waste Management Department Director Harry Hayes said, “We are excited about the opening of this site. We will be able to accommodate 10 vehicles at a time for bulky items and tires plus additional vehicles for recycling simultaneously.”

"This site allows us to offer Houstonians additional locations to recycle. It shares the property with our Reuse Warehouse which accepts lumber, plumbing, brick and other types of building materials for reuse by non-profit organizations,” added Hayes. The Reuse Warehouse celebrated its 1st year birthday with Mayor Annise D. Parker cutting the cake and honoring the staff and community for diverting 260 tons from area landfills.

Neighborhood depositories provide citizens with a drop-off point to discard heavy trash before their scheduled once-per-month junk waste/ tree waste collection day. This service is provided at no additional cost to the citizen. The other neighborhood depositories are:

Each user must provide proof of residency (utility bill or property tax receipt) and a Texas Driver’s License or ID, and may use this service up to four times per month. The neighborhood depositories accept furniture, tree limbs, stoves and other large appliances. Appliances containing refrigerant must have a tag attached to them certifying that a qualified technician has removed the refrigerant. Depositories will also accept up to 10 automobile tires per trip per residential unit.

A maximum of four cubic yards of building material (not to include roofing shingles, brick, plaster or concrete) will be accepted. However, household garbage, dead animals, flammable substances, acid waste, hazardous or toxic substances, explosives, hot ashes, or liquids of any kind will not be accepted.

All neighborhood depositories also accept recyclables. Materials accepted include aluminum and tin cans, wood waste, plastic bottles and jugs (#1 to # 5 and #7), newspapers and magazines, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, and used motor oil. For hours of operation and more information, please log on to www.houstonsolidwaste.org or call 311, the City of Houston’s Customer Service Hotline.

Construction material accounts for 38% of the waste stream in the Houston area. The Building Materials Reuse Warehouse, a component of the City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department, benefits the community by providing space for excess building materials that would otherwise be dumped in local landfills. We accept material from individuals, supply companies, and builders, and make it freely available for reuse by any non-profit organization. The Reuse Warehouse is funded in part by a grant from the Houston Galveston Area Council, a region-wide voluntary association of local governments in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning region of Texas.

The Reuse Warehouse has diverted over 260 tons of reusable material in just over one year of operation. Non-profit organizations have reused over 75% of the diverted material. The Reuse Warehouse has lots of gently used construction material, including nice doors, a steady supply of concrete test cylinders, self compacting crushed concrete, bricks, tile, lumber, versatile studio screen panels, ceiling tile, hardware, ceiling fans, rubber roofing material and more. Many inventory items and other photos can be seen on the website at www.houstonreuse.org.

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