Environmental

The City of Richardson, in partnership with Republic Services, is offering an exclusive opportunity for residents to participate in a guided recycling tour at the Republic Services facility in Plano.

Interested in adding native plants around your home but don’t know where to start? Join the Richardson Urban Naturalist program for this great opportunity to learn about how to start gardening with plants native to Texas.  

Though most municipal recycling programs (including Richardson’s) accept many types of paper, candy wrappers are not considered typical paper and are NOT accepted by Richardson’s regional recycler, Republic Services.

Help plant more than 100 trees at Breckinridge Park in celebration of Texas Arbor Day and make a positive impact on the environment and our City’s largest park.

Double the plants in your landscape at no cost by dividing and transplanting your favorite plants to new locations. According to the Dallas County Master Gardener Association, a division of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, fall and spring are both great times to move perennials, as transplanting in the summer may cause too much stress on the plants.

The Richardson Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association’s (RCPAAA) fall electronics recycling and document shredding event is taking place Oct. 25, so if you haven’t been collecting materials, now is a good time to start.

If you haven’t tried composting yet, fall is a great time to learn more about it, as fallen leaves (a great component of compost) are getting more plentiful. A large amount of space is not required; a composting bin can be as small as three feet wide. Materials to place inside include “browns” (brown leaves/grass, cardboard, newspaper) and “greens” (plant-based food scraps, green leaves/grass) in a 2:1 ratio.

With fall officially here, cooler temperatures typically bring more outdoor activities and with that comes a risk of more incidents of West Nile virus (WNV) infections—in fact, fall is considered the most active season for WNV infections. The City of Richardson tests mosquitoes each year from April through the end of October, and sprays areas if/where WNV is detected in mosquito samples.  

Animal Shelter staff would like to remind homeowners that this fall while you’re getting your property ready for a change in the season that it’s a good time to make sure it’s wildlife proofed as well, to keep wildlife intrusions and other problems at bay.