Houston recycling scheme aims to reduce waste

A consortium-based post-use plastic innovation company, together with the Houston Recycling Collaboration (HRC), announced the launch of its first ‘Cyclyx 10 to 90’ takeback program, expanding the materials accepted for recycling in Kingwood, Texas, to include nearly all plastics. The programme launched on December 10th and collected 3,900 pounds of plastic waste in the first weekend.

Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston said: "Partnerships like this are key in moving toward a circular economy that reduces the impact of plastic waste on our communities, our bayous, and our city,  Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston. We're sending a message -- with ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell, top leaders in the energy and chemical industries, along with innovative companies like Cyclyx and our established recycling partner FCC Environmental Services -- Houston is dedicated to impacting change and setting the example for communities around the country."

Kingwood, Texas, is home to more than 81,000 residents across 23,000 households. To participate in the program, Kingwood residents will "bag it & bring it," bagging their plastics in plastic trash or shopping bags, which will also be recycled, and bringing them to the Kingwood Recycling Centre for collection. Plastics accepted at the centre will include all numbered plastics from one to seven, such as shampoo bottles, takeout containers and dry cleaner bags, as well as unnumbered plastics such as bubble wrap, polystyrene foam (also known as Styrofoam) and plastic wrap.

Council Member Dave Martin, Mayor Pro-Tem for District E said: "As a resident of Kingwood myself, I'm very excited that Kingwood was selected as the location to pilot this programme.  Recycling can make a huge positive impact for sustainability, and I sincerely hope Kingwood residents will take advantage of this program, which aims to make recycling plastics easier than ever before."

The HRC aims to significantly increase Houston's plastics recycling rate by expanding both mechanical and advanced recycling infrastructure. This includes upgrading technology at FCC's material recovery facility (MRF) to be able to mechanically sort flexible packaging, ExxonMobil's large-scale advanced recycling facility in Baytown, a planned plastics sorting and pre-processing facility from Cyclyx, and planned recycling facilities by LyondellBasell. Plastic collected in Kingwood will be sent to the new Cyclyx Circularity Center, which, upon expected startup in 2024, will be able to chemically characterize these new sources of mixed waste plastics and prepare them for use in various recycling technologies.

 Joe Vaillancourt, CEO of Cyclyx added: "We are ecstatic to be offering this expanded plastic recycling capability to the residents of Kingwood. We've spent a lot of time and effort on increasing the available recycling infrastructure in the area with our recently announced Cyclyx Circularity Center with ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell. The rollout of this collection program in Kingwood is an important step in increasing the supply of plastic waste that will feed into that facility, and it will be followed in the coming year by additional takeback programs in other neighborhoods, schools, and retail establishments throughout the Houston area.”