Texan used Apple AirTags to discover plastics in Houston aren't being recycled
Brandy Deason tracked her recycling with an Apple AirTag, revealing plastics accumulating at Wright Waste Management due to processing delays, raising concerns about recycling transparency and environmental impacts.
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A Houston resident, Brandy Deason, utilized an Apple AirTag to track her recycling and discovered that the plastics collected by the Houston Recycling Collaboration (HRC) were not being processed as expected. Instead of being taken to a recycling facility, the plastics were found piled in an open lot at Wright Waste Management (WWM). The HRC was designed to enhance the city's recycling capabilities, but the partner company, Cyclix International, has yet to open its processing plant, which is anticipated to begin operations in eight to nine months. As a result, the collected recyclables are accumulating without processing. Environmental advocates have raised concerns about the effectiveness of advanced recycling technologies, which may produce toxic emissions and rely heavily on fossil fuels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that converting waste to fuel does not qualify as recycling. Deason's use of the AirTag highlights the lack of transparency in the recycling process and raises questions about the efficacy of current recycling initiatives in Houston.
- A Houston resident tracked her recycling with an Apple AirTag, revealing it was not being processed.
- Collected plastics are accumulating at Wright Waste Management due to delays in opening a processing facility.
- Advanced recycling technologies face criticism for potential environmental harm and inefficiency.
- The EPA does not classify waste-to-fuel conversion as recycling.
- The situation underscores the need for greater transparency in recycling programs.
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8 commentsUnanswered questions:
1) Is the project on schedule?
2) Is this stockpile unexpected or unmanageable?
3) Is there actually any risk that storage space runs out before the plant becomes operational?
The only remotely substantive part of the article has nothing to do with Airtags and is a shallow, uncited critique of an Exxon technology. It isn't clear if the upcoming Cyclix facility even plans to use this Exxon technology.
> One more issue that many environmental advocates raise is that the advanced recycling technology that Exxon claims to have made for recycling all kinds of plastic isn’t exactly effective.
Who are these environmental advocates you cite? What were their actual words? What does "exactly effective" mean here?
> They would also likely demand a lot of fossil fuels to superheat the recyclables, which adds more greenhouse gas emissions.
Likely? According to who? Based on what information? Texas has abundant renewable energy, where's the evidence that this requires fossil fuels?
This is a trash piece that does not pass the sniff test. It is just shallow, lazy sensationalism that plays to anti-sustainability cynicism. Don't waste your click.
Which isn’t to say recycling of meta and glass is useless. Recycling plastic is a myth, other recycling may be of some benefit.
So, O&G is still trying to greenwash their wanton production of virgin plastic through recycling programs? It’s been decades since O&G’s own researchers (and later suppressed) determined recycling was not commercially viable. Public is already aware of this (woman who started own investigation with AirTags was skeptical of city claims). A mere 5% of plastic produced is recycled [1]
The real headline here is Houston (effectively O&G’s backyard) public officials are clueless.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131131088/recycling-plastic-...
Anyone else bothered by CBS's lack of decency here? They flew a drone inside a place they could not enter.
I am definitely going to try this!
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