As we rapidly approach the closing date for major debris operations, November 19, 2008, I wanted to take an opportunity to thank you, our customers, for your hard work in helping make this debris operation one of the quickest and most successful that Houston has ever encountered. Hurricane Ike was large by many accounts: its sheer size in occupying nearly all of the Gulf of Mexico; its breadth and scope of devastation in our region; and for Houston in particular, the size and amount of the debris field. We continue to estimate that once fully closed, we will have collected more than 5.5 million cubic yards of storm debris. As of today, we are at nearly 5,000,000 cubic yards.
The Solid Waste Management Department’s success in cleaning up the city as quickly as it occurred wouldn’t have been possible without your help. During our first pass of operations which concluded October 18, 2008, city and contractor crews collected 4,281,657 cubic yards, or 88% of all storm debris collected to date (4,871,111). The October 18th number is staggering as it represents nearly the same amount of storm debris which was collected for both Hurricane Alicia (1983) and Tropical Storm Allison (2001) combined. Over a 10 day record-setting collections period which stretched from September 29, 2008 – October 7, 2008, city and contractor crews averaged more than 202,000 cubic yards each day for a total of 2,025,285 cubic yards of storm debris. Again, this too is unfathomable when considering that Hurricane Alicia generated slightly more than 3.0 million cubic yards and Tropical Storm Allison generated almost 1.2 million cubic yards.
Despite major debris operations coming to a close, there still remains work to be done. There are thousands of “blue tarp” residences in Houston where customers have yet to put out storm debris. Many of these homeowners are still waiting for either insurance adjusters or contractors to begin work. Where homeowners perform their own work, we do expect to see some storm debris. We ask those customers to contact 311 and request service for their storm debris. Even though all Solid Waste operations will return to regular schedule on December 1, 2008, several crews will be maintained for the foreseeable future to assist with these remaining storm debris calls.
In addition to the great success of rapid storm debris removal, another great victory for Houston is that nearly all of the vegetative storm debris will be recycled. Partnering with the City of Houston are several recognizable names such as Allied Waste, Living Earth and NOVUS who are grinding and composting/mulching storm debris. This is by far the largest single recycling project that I am aware of that has ever taken place in this region or the state. Staff are still trying to determine if this is the largest such recycling project on a national level.
In closing, let me thank you once again not only for your patience, but also for your hard work in getting your storm debris to the curb so quickly. We could not have moved as quickly as we did without it. As a major state, national and international economy it was of critical importance that my department and others moved rapidly to get Houston back to work in as short a timeframe as possible.
Thank you.
Harry J. Hayes
Director of Solid Waste Management