Have you given much thought to where your waste goes—and whether it’s going to the right place?
The City of Victoria Environmental Services works hard to make sure residents don’t have to worry about running out of space for their trash. Recently, we received permission from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to expand our landfill. The six-year permitting process involved working with state and federal agencies to ensure that the expansion wouldn’t have any negative impacts.
Even with this expansion, our landfill is a finite resource. The good news is that the City offers alternative waste disposal methods for recycling, yard waste and household hazardous waste. Not only do these programs reduce demand on our landfill; they’re good for the environment and can also be financially beneficial.
Recycling
Everyone knows recycling helps the environment. The problem in Victoria isn’t that residents don’t recycle, but that they put things in their green bins that don’t belong there.
If a load of recycling has too many contaminants, the whole load could get sent to the landfill—or, if it gets sent along to the recycling facility, Waste Management could charge us extra for making them process all that junk.
Environmental Services only accepts No. 1 and 2 plastics, metal cans, paper and cardboard that is free of food residue (no pizza boxes). Here are some of the most common contaminants we see:
- Plastic bags: These can get tangled up in the equipment at the recycling facility. The City doesn’t accept them, but some stores do.
- Ice chests: Seemingly “plastic” ice chests are full of non-recyclable foam insulation.
- Milk cartons: Paper cartons are coated with wax that can’t be recycled.
- Glass: The City does not recycle glass due to the cost.
- Plastics No. 3-7: Many single-use plastics are marked with a number between 1 and 7. If an item doesn’t have a number, your safest bet is to throw it away.
Tree limbs and yard waste
The City of Victoria accepts tree limbs and yard waste for composting. These items are mixed with decontaminated biosolids from Public Works to produce compost that we sell to gardeners.
Yard waste includes leaves, grass clippings, hedge trimmings and small branches. Always store yard waste in paper bags, never plastic, since the bags are composted along with the yard waste.
Tree limb pickups need to be scheduled by calling Solid Waste at 361-485-3220, or submit a request online at www.victoriatx.gov/onlineservicerequest.
If you’d like to buy compost, visit Garden-Ville at 18125 FM 1686 (next to the landfill).
Household hazardous waste
Environmental Services contracts with Waste Management to pick up items that could harm the environment. These include old electronics; fluorescent lightbulbs; car batteries; and toxic chemicals like motor oil and pesticides.
To schedule a pickup or for more information about what types of items are accepted, contact Waste Management at 1-800-449-7587 or atyourdoor@wm.com.
Let’s all make sure that our waste goes to the right places so we can protect our environment and keep using our landfill for years to come. To learn more about all of our waste disposal programs, visit www.victoriatx.gov/environmental-services.
Christy Youker is the executive director of Keep Victoria Beautiful and the assistant director of Environmental Services for the City of Victoria.