HOUSTON – Houston residents across the city have reached out to KPRC 2 News for weeks with one message: their trash still isn’t being picked up.
From mattresses and old furniture to tree limbs and broken appliances, neighbors say the piles are growing along with their frustration.
“The mattress… the chair… the wine bottle. It’s killing the grass. I’ve not seen the truck come by,” one person said.
It’s not just heavy trash. Houstonians say recycling and basic pickup have also fallen behind.
“We’ve been calling everywhere. Trash is still here… over a week ago,” one viewer said.
After yet another viewer reached out about mounting trash in their neighborhood, KPRC 2’s Re’Chelle Turner went straight to City Hall to get answers.
And in an exclusive interview, Mayor John Whitmire shared a new plan he says will bring immediate relief.
Mayor Whitmire confirmed the city will begin partnering with private contractors starting Wednesday morning to help clear the backlog.
“We’re going to play catch up by outsourcing to private companies and then we’re going to come back with a new model where we will pick up on demand,” Mayor Whitmire said.
He says crews will begin work in Southwest Houston.
“We got the equipment and the personnel rolling out tomorrow. They’re going to start in southwest Houston, and we’re going to do a couple of city sweeps in the next month,” Mayor Whitmire said.
Sharpstown resident and KPRC2 viewer Jana invited our crew to see what her neighborhood has been dealing with. While she didn’t want to appear on camera, she allowed us to follow her street by street as piles of trash stretched block after block.
“We kind of got tired. We picked ours up and hauled it off just because I have friends that could help us but a lot of people don’t,” she said.
Jana pointed out brown, dead trees, rotting furniture, and trash that she says has been untouched for months.
“You can tell some of these trees are brown. We got beds down there, stuff. This furniture to my left has been here forever. You can tell the green trees from the brown trees how long they’ve been sitting. Here, the house to the left,” she said.
She continued, describing what she sees daily on her way to work.
“I wonder how long that’s been sitting there. Months. Months. Because I go this way to the hospital. You know, this has been sitting here. There’s some houses they have toilets out. Dead trees. I mean, it’s been here a while,” she told KPRC2’s Re’Chelle Turner.
Re’Chelle asked the mayor directly how long he believes it will take to get the city caught up.
“Hopefully sooner than later. We will. We’re committed to it. It’s a priority. I live in Houston. I know it’s a problem,” he said.
After leaving City Hall, Re’Chelle called Jana to share the mayor’s plan.
“I went to City Hall and spoke to the Mayor, and he said starting tomorrow, they’re going to have private contractors that are working with Solid Waste, who are going to be focused on heavy trash pickup.”
Jana’s reaction was immediate:
“Awesome! Well, thank you so much. I’ll put it out there on Next Door Neighbor,” she said.
KPRC 2 will continue following the heavy trash relief efforts as crews begin work.
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