EARTH DAY 2023--Texans Not Recycling Wastes; Deaths by Litter Continue

By STEVE SPACEK @litterscorecard

April 22, 2023

Pollution from waste littering and dumping incidents continues to harm Texas’ public landscapes-- and the lives of Texans themselves. Yet, the State of Texas does not decree solid waste recycling—the largest US State not doing so. Many Texans continue to have a “great deal of concern” about harmful pollutants lingering on public land, says Steve Spacek, Director of the American State Litter Scorecard and a native Texan.

Unabated, unrecycled solid wastes are capable of breeding and transmitting Covid and other deadly viruses, notes Spacek. “In 2021 Texas had the highest state numbers—95 dead, and Houston, the 3rd highest urban fatalities in America—10 dead, from littering-attributed incidents. These accidents can occur anytime, under all types of weather,” he said.

The Scorecard in 2018 rated Texas among the “Ten Most Waste Polluted U.S. States,” where littering and dumping of potentially virus-breeding waste is visible, widespread. In 2020, the Scorecard put Texas’ two largest Cities, Houston and San Antonio— among the “USA’s 15 Biggest, Litter Polluted Cities.” Then and now, both San Antonio and Houston suffer lackluster waste recycling results, compared to other large cities.

“Since the first Earth Day in 1970 most Texans still believe the public sector has not worked hard enough to protect the environment,” he said. “Unfortunately, too many leading state officials across The Lone Star State (and in Houston and San Antonio, too) are not listening to voters. Public leaders need to work harder to reduce generated wastes and get trash off our roads, streets, beaches and water. Politicians need to stop sending less to landfills, put more into establishing sorely-needed, waste processing jobs and Pro-Green, Pro-Earth infrastructures."

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