38. El Paso, TX

Bordering on Sustainability

El Paso, TX: Bordering on Sustainability

If the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement, then this high desert city on the Rio Grande has space to spare. El Paso initiated curbside recycling in 2007 and saw a significant increase in residents’ participation, diverting just over five percent of their solid waste that year. The city also started a green building program to encourage businesses and residents to build sustainably, and it’s conducting energy audits on all municipal buildings. In addition, a downtown revitalization effort should breathe new life into the former mining town. El Paso has made noteworthy strides in many important areas, but still has a great opportunity to create an overall plan for sustainability. Such a plan could pave the way for a vibrant and thriving border community and nicely complement the rebirth of the city’s center.

(Photo by Zereshk)

El Paso's Rankings

El Paso sustainlability rankings chart Cities are ranked relative to each other. A longer bar denotes a higher ranking.
El Paso, TX: City Chart

Get Started

Write a Review Post to SustainLane Add Green Products & Businesses
Cities Compared
Cities Compared: Desert Cities

Cities Compared: Desert Cities

How does climate affect how cities perform? Take a look at how Desert cities measure up relative to each other.

The bike racks that are there at our train station are always full. I doubled the number of bike racks two years ago, and I got complaints the next day, 'they are full again.' I don’t know where these people came from but I guess they were parking on the street or something. Karen Miller, Baltimore

Advertisement

Sign up for updates

US City Rankings, next edition!

Find local green businesses near you.

community-powered to help you live green.