EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The City of El Paso’s curbside recycling program continues to roll out its services and still has about a week or so to cover the entire city.
Some homeowners said services have been great, while others said they’ve been having some troubles getting their recyclables collected.
Recycling services were at a halt for two months, but now homeowners can bring out their blue bins to the curb to get their recyclables collected. However, you may want to avoid placing plastic bags with items inside to ensure you won’t get skipped.
The City’s Environmental Services Department is reminding El Pasoans about the do’s and don’ts when trying to get your curbside recycling picked up.
“Out of 200,000 homes, we’re just now starting on the last 5,000 this week and next week. By the end of next week, we will have covered the city,” Ellen Symth, Managing Director of the City’s Environmental Service Department (ESD) said.
With curbside recycling services being back on the ground, ESD is reminding El Paso homeowners their blue bin must be out on the curb at 5 a.m. on the scheduled pick up date no matter what.
“A misconception is that we always come at the same day at the same time, but we can come at 5 in the morning and then we can come at 2 in the afternoon. Just because you may be accustomed to when we may show up, it’s not a guarantee,” Smyth explained.
Some other things to remember: the lid of the bin must be pointing towards the street, and items like plastic bags are not allowed in case of contamination, “If you put a bag into your bin, it’s trash. It doesn’t matter what’s inside it’s automatically trash.”
KTSM 9 News took to social media asking El Pasoans how their experience has been so far with services being back. Many said it’s been great and other said there’s been some issues, mainly on the inconsistency of pickup times.
The ESD said customers should call the recycling call center (915) 212-6000 if their recyclables were not picked up.
“If it’s our fault, we will go back for free. If it’s your fault, we’ll go back for $10 or you can wait until the next pick up,” Smyth explained, “We have a photograph so that when you call, we’ll be able to explain what went wrong.”
As the last set of homes are waiting for its recycling services, there’s expected to be more hands on deck in the near future.
“We’re starting an academy next week and we have 16 new drivers that are starting. I always say the silver lining of the not picking up the recycling is that we were able to recruit employees who didn’t otherwise know that we were always looking for drivers,” Smyth said.
Just a reminder, you can click here to enter your address and find your scheduled pick up date. You can also check out the ESD website for more information on curbside recycling.
New homeowners are also required to take an online recycling class before the City delivers your blue bin.