What do I do if my recycling won't fit in my cart?
If you have recycling that will not fit in your BLUE recycling cart, you can bring the recycling to the Transfer Station Facility for disposal. Please see more information about our Transfer Station Facility on our Solid Waste/Recycling page.
If you continually have recycling that does not fit into your BLUE recycling cart, you can request a second BLUE recycling cart to be assigned to your address. There is no charge for a second cart. Please call 936-294-5712 to request a second cart.
What do I do if I want to change the size of my recycling cart?
Just give us a call and let us know at 936-294-5712. We have two sizes of recycling carts, a 48-gallon, and a 96-gallon.
What do I do if my recycling cart is damaged?
If your lid breaks, a wheel falls off, or the can cracks, there is no reason to worry. Please call 936-294-5712 and request a replacement cart. Leave the damaged cart outside where it can easily be located. We will send out someone within 5 to 7 days to deliver a new cart, and pick up the damaged cart.
If your lid keeps breaking, check to see which way it is left on the street's edge. Our trucks have mechanical arms that reach out and grab these recycling carts. If the handle of the cart is facing the road, not the house, the lid can get stuck on this arm and can get pulled off. Turn the cart so that the handle is facing away from the road and there should be no more broken lids.
What do I do if my recycling cart is missing?
This does happen, and there could be multiple reasons. The most common reason is that there was a storm and the cart simply floated away. If this happens, please look for the cart in the direction that the water would flow on your street. If you are unable to locate the cart, call 936-294-5712 and request a replacement cart.
Another common reason that the cart is missing is that it was pulled for miss use by the Solid Waste and Recycling Department. A door hanger should have been placed on your front door notifying you that there were items placed in your cart that did not belong in there.
If your cart has gone missing for any other reason, please contact us at 936-294-5712 and request a replacement cart. This most often happens when a recycling cart is left on the street's edge continuously. To avoid this, please do not put out your cart any sooner than 8:00 pm the night before it is serviced, and pull your cart from the street's edge after the cart has been serviced.
What if my cart got pulled for misuse and I wasn't the person that put those items in the cart?
When you decide to participate in the curbside recycling program, it becomes your responsibility to monitor all items that go into the recycling cart. If you are not able to do this, you will not be able to continue participating in the curbside recycling program.
My recycling keeps getting missed, why?
There are several reasons why this might be happening.
Answer 1 - The cart was placed at the streets edge after the truck had already gone down your side of the street.
The recycling routes can change on a daily bases due to changes in drivers, traffic patterns, truck breakdowns, more or fewer carts than usual being set out on a particular day, or the driver had to change his route due to a customer's request to return to a particular location. The driver will start his route at 6:00 am, and due to the different reasons as to why a route might change, even though you usually notice your driver coming through your street around 10:00 am, that could change and the driver could be down your street at any time. This is why it is important to have your cart at the street's edge by 6:00 a.m.
Answer 2 - The driver has not been on your side of the street yet.
The trucks are designed to pick up one side of the street at a time. In order to be efficient with time, the routes are written so that the driver can drive as far as possible with making as few turns as possible, so your driver might not be back down the other side of your street for several hours. If there has been a breakdown in the middle of the route, this could further delay the driver's return.
Answer 3 - The cart was blocked in some way.
If your cart was placed too close to an obstacle, or a vehicle was parked in front of the cart at the time that the driver came to your location for servicing, the driver was not able to provide service. Often the vehicle blocking the cart does not belong to the customer that has been blocked. It could be a neighbor, a visitor, a yard service crew, tv/cable truck, construction workers, etc.
Answer 4 - The cart was set too far back off of the street's edge.
The arms of the trucks that reach out and grab your recycling cart are only so long. If the cart is set too far back off the road, the driver will not be able to grab the cart. The cart must be set as close to the street's edge as possible. Find or create a location on your property that meets this requirement. If you would like suggestions or help with finding a solution to this problem, please contact us at 936-294-5712.