Dizon, who regularly recycles packaging and other waste, began to question the city's plastic recycling program. Houston's program promised to accept even types of plastic not normally considered recyclable.
Curious about where the plastic goes, she purchased a set of AirTags and included them in various plastic waste bags. Of the bags she tracked, nearly all went to a company called Wright Waste Management, which is located in nearby Harris County.
The company does not have a permit to store plastic waste and failed three fire inspections.
CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy called Dizon the “James Bond of plastic recycling” for her initiative. Aerial images showed huge piles of plastic waste up to 10 feet high at the site.
Deason said she found it strange that the company would simply store non-renewable plastic waste. She later contacted Houston Solid Waste Director Mark Wilfalk to ask about the discrepancy.
Shown the drone footage, Wilfalk acknowledged that “this facility doesn't look terribly attractive.” He promised Deason to investigate the problems that caused Wright Waste Management to fail a fire inspection.
Wilfalk later admitted that the city had collected about 250 tons of plastic since the end of 2022. He said that none of this plastic has yet been recycled.
“We will stockpile it for now,” he admitted. “We'll see what happens next.”
In contrast, Apple has been an industry leader in reducing its use of plastic. It uses paper for packaging and metal instead of plastic for its line of computers.
It uses a certain amount of plastic for products like AirPods. The company has invested in robotics to help recycle old Apple products.
As it turns out, Houston is awaiting the opening of a promised sorting plant that will store and sort recycled material. A sorting plant company, Cyclix, says it has developed a method to create recyclable pellets from plastic waste.
However, only a small fraction of these pellets can be made from new plastic. Most will be melted down and turned into fuel that burns, increasing carbon emissions.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is investigating claims by Cyclix owner and plastics manufacturer ExxonMobil about plastic recycling in this states He described Cyclix's claims about plastic recycling as largely fictitious.