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What’s Up College Station Archive

Grace Hallowell:

What’s up College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell, and today I am joined with Caroline Ask, the Solid Waste Division manager over in Public Works. Hi Caroline.

Caroline Ask:

Good morning, Grace. Thanks for having me.

Grace Hallowell:

You’re welcome. Thanks for talking some trash with me today.

Caroline Ask:

Absolutely.

Grace Hallowell:

It’s hard to believe that Move-in season is already here. It feels like you’re just started and now it’s time for the majority of our population to all move out at the same time. So, you have some good tips for us to help keep our city clean during this process.

Caroline Ask:

Yes, and like you mentioned, we have a really fluid population, so it does pose a little bit of a challenge for our staff, as we have all 75,000 people decide to move on the same week, at the exact same time. So, we do have some guidelines that we hope that our residents will take into account as they’re moving out, and just to help our staff a little bit more.

So, if you have any bulky items and brushy items, because we’re coming into a stormy season as well, just make sure that those piles are separated. We do pick them up with different collection vehicles, so if you can, be sure to separate those piles. We take the brush and we do mulch it at the landfill. And then of course, the bulky items. Anything that’s larger than two people to be able to pick up manually, we’ll go ahead and pick that up with what’s called a boom truck, has the giant claw, all the little kids like that vehicle. And yeah, just make sure that if you have any of those larger piles that they’re away from any type of obstructions, just because we need a little bit more clearance for safety for that larger truck type to come in.

Grace Hallowell:

What’s a good rule of thumb for how many feet away from those objects?

Caroline Ask:

Usually we ask for about four feet from any type of stationary objects, including those communication boxes and whatnot. And also, out from underneath any type of trees or communications lines, just so we don’t snag anything, and we don’t break off any branches while we’re coming to collect you guys.

Grace Hallowell:

And then as far as other items that you might not be sure if you can throw away in your trash, like batteries or paint cans, things like that, what can people do with those?

Caroline Ask:

So, they’re more than welcome to look at different options as well as take them directly to the Twin Oaks landfill, which is off of Highway 30. We do see quite a bit of variation in the items that we’re collecting, especially at move out, when people decide to put everything on the curb or near their dumpsters at their apartment complexes.

So, just as a rule of thumb for apartment complexes and those that utilize those communal containers, make sure that you’re looking at our web page at CSTX.gov Backslash Recycle, and there should be some FAQ tabs in there where you can kind of look at what we accept and don’t accept. There’s also some PDF versions of our solid waste and recycling guide and some move in and move out procedures that are in there. So, some of the items that we’ll look at, and we will not collect or any type of has waste or special waste listed wastes.

So for example, if you’ve got some tires or some paint cans, maybe you need to paint the inside of your apartment real quick, so you can get your deposit back. We can’t take those. They’re considered hazardous waste. So, just make sure they’re separated out in a different pile. Either your apartment complex can help you out with some various disposal options, or like I said, you can take them directly to the landfill. There may be a couple charges related to those items just because they are specific types of waste, but you can dispose off them there.

Grace Hallowell:

Yeah, we don’t want to cause any issues with your trucks.

Caroline Ask:

No. So, last year, a couple of years ago, as we noticed that the pool season is coming up. We are in Texas, it does get extremely hot and we all enjoy sitting poolside. But just make sure that if you do have a pool that you’re not placing any type of chemical containers that haven’t been washed multiple times, or chemical containers that still have some type of residue or product in them. Usually what happens in solid waste vehicles is, everything is compacted in the truck so we can load it up as much as possible and only make a small amount of loads or trips to the landfill. When that compacts, what it does is it actually reacts with everything else that’s in the truck and it could cause some type of chemical fire, stuff like that where not only our staff has I guess a safety issue, but then we’re also bringing in first responders. So we want to make sure we limit that as much as possible.

Grace Hallowell:

So, what are some of the common issues that you see during move out, or things that you shouldn’t do during this time when you have that mass amount of things you’re getting rid of?

Caroline Ask:

So, like we talked about a little bit earlier, placement. Placement’s a big deal for us. If something is obstructed, we will go ahead and pass by that residence. We’ll usually leave a tag or a door hanger to let you know why. If it’s a larger pile to where a boom truck can’t get to it, we don’t want to hit a parked car or anything like that. So, we will leave that information for you. Some of the other items that we’ll see that cause a little bit of collection issues is any items that are placed in front of those communal containers. So for example, if you live in an apartment complex with eight yard dumpsters, and you start placing couches and everything in front of it, our truck actually cannot get to the dumpster to pick it up and service it. So, make sure it’s free and clear.

Same with the enclosure. The enclosure needs to be free and clear. Go ahead and get in contact with your management company and they should have a specific spot that’s safe for us to get to, and they’ll be able to give you some more tips from there. As for other collections, like we mentioned earlier, no hazardous waste. And yeah, anything else, you’re more than welcome to coordinate with us. If you have any questions, we’d be happy to help you, whether it’s through our email. We do have a general email inbox where we answer emails periodically throughout the day, so pubworks@cstx.gov or you can give us a call at our mainline. Our phone number’s 979-764-3690.

Grace Hallowell:

So, another good option I know is our app, the College Station Curbside app, and we have had a little pause on that, at least for Apple users at the moment. Where can people go to find that information?

Caroline Ask:

So, they can go to our webpage at Cstx.gov Backslash Recycle. On the left-hand side, it’ll have collection schedules as a button. You can click that and type in your specific address where your collection schedule will populate. We do put campaigns and or general service notices at the very top, so make sure that you’re reading that, and that’s the quickest way that you can see your collection information, for solid waste recycling and bulk and brush. Like you mentioned, we have a little bit of a pause. We’re renewing our application right now with Apple, so that our college station Curbside app should be in the portal for everybody to download by the end of this week. It does not affect those that currently already have the application already downloaded on their phone.

Grace Hallowell:

Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Caroline.

Caroline Ask:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Grace Hallowell:

And that’s what’s up.