Houston is the fourth largest city in the US after New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The city and metropolitan area continue to grow. With growth comes festivals, sports fans, major arts events, and tourism from all over the world.
It’s easy to forget the logistics of what it takes to host all these people. In 2021, the Mayor of Houston released a statement that said that Houston residents produce around 6.2 million tons of municipal solid waste every year.
With all that waste to be accounted for, it’s important for us, as businesses and consumers, to be aware of the kinds of waste we produce and throw away.
There are many ways to dispose of trash effectively and efficiently, for your household as well as your community. Let us start at the beginning as we dive into the top five common types of garbage found in Houston.
Different types of garbage found in Houston are managed by a waste stream. A waste stream is the complete flow of all waste from its creation to its final disposal.
Municipal solid waste is the waste stream that comes from households and communities. It’s a very diverse waste stream that ranges from newspapers and other common waste to old electronics. It’s the household waste that you produce on the daily, like the plastic wraps for your food, your apple cores, the empty bottle of soap, and more.
Commercial and industrial waste comes from businesses across all industries, such as schools, retail stores, restaurants, and offices. This is often disposed of in large quantities because of the amount of business that is seen daily.
Construction and demolition waste is, in general, different types of natural construction-related waste like wood, synthetic materials, and asphalt. In 2018, construction and demolition waste made up of 40% of the landfill waste in the entire country. Even with the recyclability of construction materials like concrete, wood, metal, glass, and bricks, around 145 million tons are still sent to landfills every year.
Liquid waste encapsulates sewage, trade waste, and hazardous liquid waste. This is the liquid waste that comes from bathrooms, factories, manufacturing plants, and more.
The last waste type, hazardous waste, comes from any source and is a little more difficult to define. Basically, it is considered hazardous if it requires specific handling to protect the community.
In the Houston area, the everyday person is likely to not produce hazardous waste, but there are a lot of types of household waste that can otherwise be composted or recycled.
Nationally, we can see statistics and breakdowns of landfill material by type.
Food is the largest material of garbage found in Houston, coming in at almost 22% of total landfill materials. This waste can be managed by composting and responsible buying. And with the added cost of inflation these days, over-buying food, or buying a few crowns of broccoli that you know you’ll never eat, can cost your wallet and fill up a landfill.
Plastics are the next biggest landfill-filler at 19.2% of the landfill space. Plastics come in many kinds of shapes that you might not even think about. It’s the old pen that’s run out of ink. It’s the wrapping on your microwavable popcorn. Also, t’s the old toothbrush or takeout box.
The thing about plastic that can be difficult is that many types of plastics are recyclable, but it’s always difficult to tell. Most of the time, you can get away with seeing the recycle logo on the bottom of the plastic. You can also rinse off any residue from food or other materials on the plastic and toss it in the recycle bin.
Paper contributes a whopping 13% to the waste in a landfill. These include the fast food wrappers, receipts, and old Christmas cards from distant family members.
The next kind of trash that Houstonians dispose of raw materials, like metals, wood, textiles, glass, or yard debris.
Houston residents produce, on average, about 10 pounds of trash per person per day, which is more than twice the national average. And those are just the numbers through official channels. Environmental groups in the Houston area have picked up 2,000 cubic yards of trash on the bayous in just a single year.
Houston’s leaders also believe the city’s waste disposal program is partly to blame for the large amounts of trash produced. Houston’s solid waste budget comes from the city, versus a per-household fee like other major Texas cities. City leaders believe that this lack of individual responsibility for waste services is what leads to so much waste.
This topic has been highly debated in city councils since its proposal in 2019. While Houston still doesn’t have a per-household charge for trash pickup services, this new initiative could be on its way in the next few years.
The goal is to reduce the amount of trash being thrown away and promote initiatives for reducing, reusing, and recycling. This in turn reduces that amount of trash that gets thrown into landfills and therefore protects the environment (American landfills release an estimated 122.6 million tons of methane into the atmosphere every year).
Discount Dumpster works with local landfills to make sure that all the waste that comes through our dumpsters is handled responsibly. We also provide any assistance you need in order to figure out your waste types and dispose of them safely.
From construction waste to household waste, we have a goal to help our community in Houston dispose of their waste responsibly and efficiently.
Give us a call to get a free quote on your waste! We’ll chat with you about the type of things you’re tossing and make sure we know exactly how we need to dispose of your waste. We’ll give you a great rate on a rental that will help you get rid of your trash right away!
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