If you have City of Houston (COH) curbside recycling pickup or similar recycling pickup service, and want your recyclable plastics to actually get recycled, then you should put those plastic recyclables in the curbside collection. That would typically include any plastics that are acceptable in curbside collections. If you have plastic bags, which are not accepted for curbside collection, those can be dropped off at stores that offer plastic bag recycling collection.

You may have heard of the City of Houston's 'All Plastics Recycling' collections in the past two years. But Houston environmental groups and investigative reporters have raised serious concerns about the viability and effectiveness of this approach and technology. And plastics currently put in the 'All Plastics Recycling' collections are reportedly just being stockpiled and not processed at all. See linked articles below for details.

Currently, as far as the 'All Plastics' collection, it is best to use that ONLY for the various plastic items that are NOT accepted curbside or at store drop offs. That would include such plastic items as foam blocks, plastic sheeting, plastic #6, plastic toys, etc.

Video link below, from CBS Reports and Inside Climate News:
"As America grapples with an escalating plastic crisis, the city of Houston, ExxonMobil, and other partners announced a new program that promised to recycle nearly all of the city's plastic waste. However, after two years, the program has yet to fully materialize. Critics argue that the evidence suggests it never will. And yet, the company envisions similar programs in other American cities. CBS Reports and Inside Climate News investigate whether this proposed solution to our plastic recycling crisis is indeed too good to be true."

Video:
Advanced Recycling: Does Big Plastic’s Idea Work? | CBS Reports (youtube.com)

The following article about Houston's "All Plastics Collection" appears at the Inside Climate News website:
(Scroll down to read article)
Houston’s Plastic Waste, Waiting More Than a Year for ‘Advanced’ Recycling, Piles up at a Business Failed Three Times by Fire Marshal - Inside Climate News

Environmental Concerns about Chemical Recycling of Plastics:
Most environmentalists have concerns about proposed chemical recycling processes. Since most all plastics are currently derived from fossil fuel sources, technologies that involve pyrolysis or heating of plastics can produce unhealthy air emissions that would impact adjacent communities and regional air quality. And there is no guarantee that these technologies will lead to effective, economic recycling of the many hard to recycle fossil-fuel based plastic items.

For questions or feedback about this article, contact Frank Blake at frankblake@juno.com

Photo by iStock.com/Mukhina1.