<\/p>\n
Heather Laureles, director of administration and communications at Covenant Church, holds church service bulletins as she discusses their importance and the volume of paper the church uses in Houston on Thursday, July 30, 2026. After the City of Houston discontinued its business recycling program, the environmentally conscious church began asking volunteers to take recyclable materials home for recycling.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Heather Laureles, director of administration and communications at Covenant Church, speaks in the church’s sanctuary, which features an organ built by Hook & Hastings in 1893, in Houston Thursday, July 30, 2026. After the City of Houston discontinued its business recycling program, the environmentally conscious church began asking volunteers to take recyclable materials home for recycling.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Heather Laureles, director of administration and communications at Covenant Church, holds church service bulletins as she discusses their importance and the volume of paper the church uses in Houston on Thursday, July 30, 2026. After the City of Houston discontinued its business recycling program, the environmentally conscious church began asking volunteers to take recyclable materials home for recycling.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Heather Laureles, director of administration and communications at Covenant Church, holds church service bulletins as she discusses their importance and the volume of paper the church uses in Houston on Thursday, July 30, 2026. After the City of Houston discontinued its business recycling program, the environmentally conscious church began asking volunteers to take recyclable materials home for recycling.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Heather Laureles, director of administration and communications at Covenant Church, speaks in the church’s sanctuary, which features an organ built by Hook & Hastings in 1893, in Houston Thursday, July 30, 2026. After the City of Houston discontinued its business recycling program, the environmentally conscious church began asking volunteers to take recyclable materials home for recycling.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Houston quietly ended a recycling program for businesses late last year, leaving organizations that chose to recycle with one less way to do so in a city that already recycles less of its waste than other major Texas cities<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of the several hundred organizations that relied on the program only learned the initiative had ended this summer when city crews abruptly took their green bins away \u2013 even as Mayor John Whitmire proposed a new $5 monthly trash fee<\/a> that officials say will stabilize the long-troubled Solid Waste Management Department and improve trash and recycling pickup and other services.<\/p>\n MORE: Houston lags behind other major Texas cities in recycling. Will the new trash fee improve that?<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n City officials did not commit to bringing back recycling service for businesses, some of which have turned to more expensive private service, shared dumpsters with neighbors or asked employees to haul recyclables home themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among those caught off guard was the staff of Covenant Church<\/a> in the Museum District, where the recycling program helped support the congregation’s commitment to protecting the environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur church was shocked when they took our bin away,\u201d said Heather Laureles of Covenant Church. \u201cWe have to recycle. It\u2019s part of our Christian identity to care about social justice and be good stewards of the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n Randy Macchi, the director of Houston Public Works who now also oversees the solid waste department, said the city ended the program in order to focus resources on residential trash and recycling services, which Houston has long struggled to deliver<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n MORE:\u00a0Houston struggles with trash pickup more than other Texas cities. Here\u2019s what 311 data shows<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMany participating businesses have since transitioned to private or self-managed recycling solutions that better meet their needs,\u201d Macci said in a statement. \u201cToday, the city is making significant progress in improving residential recycling and solid waste operations, with more consistent and timely service for Houston residents.\u201d<\/p>\n Macchi also said business recycling was never intended to operate as a long-term service. But records show about 230 locations participated in the program at some point over a span of at least eight years<\/p>\n \u201cAs these improvements continue and resources become available, the city will evaluate future opportunities to support business recycling in a way that is sustainable and effective,\u201d Macchi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s recycling contractor told city council earlier this year<\/a> that 42% of the materials residents place in their green bins can\u2019t be recycled. Other major Texas cities like Austin<\/a> and San Antonio<\/a> report contamination rates roughly half that high.\u00a0<\/p>\n Macchi told city council at a May budget hearing<\/a> that he would return later this summer with \u201ca much more refined set\u201d of performance measures for waste services, but has not yet done so.<\/p>\n \u2018It was a complete surprise\u2019<\/p>\n The city never publicly announced the program\u2019s elimination, and it continues to be referenced on parts of the solid waste department\u2019s website<\/a>, though many of the links are broken.\u00a0<\/p>\n At least some participants received letters saying the program had been discontinued on Nov. 15, 2025, and that their contracts would not be renewed, though some received that notice as late as this summer.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Several businesses said they first learned the program had ended only after city crews took their bins away.<\/p>\n CITY HALL: Houston could soon require air conditioning in all rental units<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNot only was it a surprise but it was a huge hindrance,\u201d said Joanna Covington of Believe in Dog<\/a>, a pet training business in the Heights. \u201cBecause at that point going forward, we couldn\u2019t put our recycling anywhere. All of a sudden, we had a lot of pile up.\u201d<\/p>\n Believe in Dog is on a residential street and depended on the city’s curbside recycling service because it couldn’t accommodate a commercial dumpster. After the city took the shop\u2019s recycling bin, Covington contacted 10 private recycling companies before finding one willing to provide curbside pickup \u2014 at roughly four times the cost of the city’s program.\u00a0<\/p>\n Businesses paid the city based on the number of bins they used, records show, with many paying about $250 per year and most of the rest paying between $370 and $760 per year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n