This story is a partnership between Inside Climate News and CBS News. Watch the CBS Reports documentary, 'Advanced Recycling: Does Big Plastic's Idea Work?' in the video player above.HOUSTON, Tex.—When the news crew showed up outside a waste-handling business that's failed three fire safety inspections and has yet to gain state approval to store plastic, workers quickly closed a gate displaying a 'no trespassing' sign.
Owner Stratton Wright referred reporters to Cyclyx.Wright Waste Management has been on file with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as a cardboard recycler since 2016, but on Sept. 26, 2023, Wright submitted a 'notice of intent' to operate a municipal solid waste recycling facility. That application to the TCEQ revealed a plan to store as much as 2.2 million pounds of plastic waste and a request for permission to exceed time limits for plastic waste storage.