Since Hurricane Ike, the City of Houston has been trying to figure out how
to recycle the wood debris. From Galveston to North of Houston, there is
plenty of wood debris to be collected but not sent to the local landfills.
So the City has come up with a nationwide contest in hopes of someone coming
up with a recycling idea that will get rid of 5.6 million cubic yards of
tree waste cleaned up from households and front yards.
The contest will pay $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 for the top 3 ideas. Currently,
the debris is enough to fill the Astrodome nearly 4 times over. So, if you have
an idea on how to recycle all of this debris, you can submit it to recycleike@
cityofhouston.net. Visit Recycle Ike for more details.
So far, the city has given two companies 700,000 cubic yards of the wood waste
who will turn it into mulch and compost for resale. There have been other
thoughts of using it for erosion control, boiler fuel and electric generation.
Of course, other cities/companies have ponied up to the bar for wood chips.
Dallas-based Living Earth Technology Co. has agreed to accept up to 200,000
cubic yards of tree waste from Ike and package it for resale. The company will
donate 10 cents from each bag and 50 cents of every bulk yard sold to the city,
and the money will be used for Houston recycling programs.
Phoenix-based Allied Waste has agreed to take up to half a million cubic yards
of tree waste chips for composting.
And last but not least, there has been one statement that says it all.
Make toilet paper out of it and we can use it to wipe away the filth of the
Wall Street bailout.
Do you have any ideas?
