…and it has to do with trash.

Today the New York Times reports that Houston is among the least recycling-friendly cities in the country, trashing all but 2.6 percent of its refuse. That may not seem too bad when lined up against San Antonio (4 percent) or Detroit (10 percent), but it’s terrible when you consider that the national average is 32 percent, and that Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco each handily exceed 50 percent.

But how about Washington? Meh — we’re tied with Phoenix, with 22 percent of trash recycled. (FYI – The article didn’t include Washington’s tally. For that, I had to register to get the full survey from WasteNews, a trade publication on trash. And they now have my contact info. Awesome.) Our neighbor to the north, Baltimore, comes in with a very respectable 42 percent, while just a little farther up I-95, Philadelphia hits 38 percent. Boston sucks a little more than we do, though, just getting to 15 percent, while New York gets 34 percent.

So why isn’t the District better at recycling? Like Houston, part of it might have to do with the troubles that many residents have had in getting recycling bins (we’ve heard horror stories; do you have any to share?). Or it might be more serious — the city has just never really pushed to be good at it. According to one article on NowPublic, plenty of residents have complained about their recycling just getting mixed in with the trash.

We can’t let this stand, if only for civic pride. It’ll be a dark day in a garbage-filled hell before Baltimore and Philadelphia can tell us how to deal with refuse.

Photo by Terecico