How does Houston recycle? Solid Waste Management department offers drop-off locations amid 18% recycling rate [Video]

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Recycling has been a staple of everyday life for decades. We’ve been told it’s a solution to managing waste, especially regarding paper, aluminum, glass, and plastic. So, on this last Monday of Earth Month, ABC13 Meteorologist Elyse Smith learned more about what happens to recyclables in the City of Houston once they’re collected.

Mark Wilfalk, director of the City of Houston Solid Waste Management, walked ABC13 through how paper, aluminum, glass, and plastic are handled with the city-run, recently-opened drop-off locations for recyclable goods, including their unique Reuse Warehouse, where businesses can bring unwanted goods to be repurposed.

Of those four primary recyclables, plastic sometimes gets turned away.

“So, we can’t just say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna recycle all the plastics,’ and expect that to be the elixir and make everything better,” Wilfalk said. “I do think that there is also…the producer responsibility. But then, also, the consumer’s responsibility, too.”

Wilfalk referred to how regular people can reduce …