For weeks, KPRC 2 has been reporting on the recycling pickup delay problem plaguing residents across the city of Houston.
According to the city website, the recycling pickup schedule was set to be back to normal by Monday.
So KPRC 2 went to a neighborhood in Southwest Houston with the zip code 77072, that had recycling pickup scheduled for Monday. But no recycling pickup truck ever came.
David Gonzalez, a homeowner in the area, said the problem has gotten worse since Hurricane Beryl.
“The issue is they don’t come on time,” said Gonzalez. “As a matter of fact, they got my recording on 311 so many times.”
Gonzalez isn’t the only Houstonian who has called 311 about this problem.
According to the city’s 311 website, missed recycling pickup was the number one complaint to 311 in the past twelve weeks with a total of 12,617 complaints.
In the past four weeks alone, there were 7,297 complaints. Last year in the same time period, there were 1,247.
When we asked the city last week about the problem, a spokesperson told us 46 trucks are inoperable and replacing them will take six to eight months.
Mayor John Whitmire said new administration should also help to relieve the problem.
“It’s a problem with the system that we inherited,” said Whitmire. "We’re in transition, the new director, I have confidence in him."
On Monday, the city’s website also showed yard waste crews were being diverted to help with recycling and trash pickup.
