The City of Victoria Environmental Services encourages residents to recycle, but make sure you don’t put anything into our system that doesn’t belong there.
We recently made some improvements to our recycling drop-off facility at 809 N. George St., adding a self-service dumpster so that busy residents can easily stop by and drop off their recyclables. If you’d like to come see it for yourself, we are open 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month (please bring your City of Victoria utility bill).
With more residents using our drop-off facility, this is a perfect time to share some reminders about items that shouldn’t be recycled in our system:
- Bagged recyclables: Plastic trash bags are not recyclable. If you are transporting your recyclables in a plastic trash bag, make sure to empty it out rather than dropping off the whole bag.
- Plastic grocery bags: These bags can get tangled in the machines that process our recycling. Some grocery stores have drop-off locations where you can take them instead.
- Glass: Our recycling program does not accept glass for recycling due to the cost.
Some contaminants seem to reflect a “wishcycling” mindset, with residents assuming or hoping that items can be recycled. However, non-recyclable items are worse than useless to us, since too many of them can cause whole loads to be contaminated and sent to our landfill. So, if you’re not sure if something is recyclable or not, it’s better to throw it away.
We are in the process of adding stickers to residential recycling carts to remind residents of what can and can’t be recycled. It will take some time for us to service every recycling cart in Victoria, but we hope that these stickers will help residents keep contaminants out of our system.
Another common issue that we see is residents leaving bulky trash on their curb for weeks at a time, thinking that the City will come pick it up. Environmental Services does offer pickups of bulky items, but you must contact our office at 361-485-3220 or use the Victoria Texas 311 app to schedule a pickup. Customers get two pickups per year as part of their residential service.
Let’s come together for the Keep Victoria Beautiful Fall Sweep
Keep Victoria Beautiful is gearing up for its annual Fall Sweep, which will be held 8-10 a.m. Sept. 21. This event truly shows the impact of residents coming together to support a common goal. Participating in the Fall Sweep is a great way to spend some time helping your community and go home knowing you made a difference. Food and hydration will be provided.
We encourage volunteers to sign up in advance; the more people who sign up, the more locations we will be able to add to the cleanup. If you’re bringing a group, let us know how many people to expect.
To sign up for the Fall Sweep, or to sign up to be notified of future cleanups, visit www.victoriatx.gov/kvb.
Christy Youker is the executive director of Keep Victoria Beautiful and the assistant director of Environmental Services for the City of Victoria.