RICHARDSON – Richardson’s trash and recycling crews hit the streets early every collection day to collect things people want to get rid of most… their trash. It’s not the most glamorous job in the community but it’s probably the most used service the City provides. Every week Richardson Solid Waste collection crews pickup approximately 530 tons a day (2,100 a week). That’s a lot of garbage and it typically take one team approximately 8.5 to 10 hours a day to visit homes. For most people the collection goes pretty seamless, but sometimes people run out to place their refuse because the truck is coming a little earlier than expected. It happens when schedules get changed, like because a truck is down or a change has been made to improve efficiency. That’s why they say the best time to place your trash is first thing in the morning.
“It’s important for residents to take out their trash between 6 a.m. – 7 a.m. the morning of their scheduled collection day,” said Paula Johnson, Environmental Services Superintendent. “It helps to prevent wildlife or other animals from tearing into trash bags left on the curb overnight.”
Placing bags early in the morning also helps the hard working service crews by reducing the mess in alley ways and in neighborhood streets created by destroyed trash bags. In fact, sometimes when they come across busted trash bags they pickup what they can but have to leave the rest behind.
“The drivers do not have the time to pickup trash in the alley way created by destroyed trash bags. Their primary goal is to pickup the trash that is in front of your residents. If they spill something out of the bag, crews will pick it up, but If there are things right around the bag that the animals have gotten into, they will try to pick all of that up, but anything that is blown down the alleyway we just do not have the man power to collect,” said Johnson.
Richardson is one of the few cities to offer twice a week trash collection service with once per week recycling collection. Most other cities offer once per week trash with every-other-week recycling service. To find out more about how this service works for you and how to schedule pickups for big and bulky trash visit https://www.cor.net/departments/public-services/trash-recycling.
