Dive Brief:

• Houston, TX collected five bids from haulers for the city’s One Bin for All recycling program.
• Mayor Annise Parker says this is a milestone for the program and is moving forward with the project.
• The program is intended to raise the recycling rate by making the task of discarding waste easier for residents. Households would be permitted to toss all trash into one bin, which would be sorted at a $100-million facility that hasn’t been constructed yet. The city’s current rate of recycling is 6%.

Dive Insight:

Zero Waste Houston was formed as a backlash against the One Bin for All program. Launched by the Texas Campaign for the Environment and joined by other environmental organizations, the group challenges the city’s efforts to co-mingle waste and recyclables. The group also opposes incinerating the waste.