Solid Waste Department

As most residents would agree, the City of New Braunfels is an outstanding community with many great attributes.  One of these is its excellent Solid Waste program – we take pride in our expertise in good garbage management. 

While this is not a particularly popular topic at most social gatherings, solid waste collection and disposal is a service that is essential.  Happily, most people in New Braunfels don’t need to give their garbage service a lot of thought.  That is because the level of service is consistent and reliable.   The department provides solid waste services to more than 15,000 residences and 200+ businesses.

Our primary goal is to provide timely collection of garbage, recycling, and green waste, properly disposing of the waste materials at a sanitary landfill and recycling and reducing materials to comply with state and federal regulations in a cost effective method.

Garbage Collection
Residents in New Braunfels have their waste collected twice-per-week either on Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday. 
 

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  The Solid Waste Department wants to provide you with the very best garbage collection service possible.  Sometimes garbage containers are not serviced due to the size or weight as they may injure our workers.  To keep your collectors safe from injuries, no container over the 45-gallon size will be serviced.

Please adhere to the following instructions when placing your refuse container(s) out for collection: 

• Place your container(s) at your collection point (street curb by 7:00 a.m. on your scheduled collection day to ensure pick-up)
   
• Place your container(s) at least four feet from your recycling container or any other object that may impede collection.  (It is preferable to place your refuse containers on one side of your driveway and your recycling cart on the opposite side of your driveway)
   
• It is recommended that you put trash in sealed plastic bags before placing in your container(s).
   
• Do not put yard trimmings or recyclables in your refuse container(s) – separate collection is provided for these items.
   
• Do not put household chemicals in your refuse containers.
   
• Do not place hot ashes out for disposal.  Please place ashes in a bag which can be sealed with tie strings.  Set the bag outside for a couple of days to ensure that the ashes cool down.  Once the ashes are cool, place the bag in your refuse cart for disposal.

Excess Garbage
In 2002, the City implemented a Pay-As-You-Throw Program to encourage residents to limit the household waste placed at the curb.  Any garbage in excess of the three 32-gallon or two 45-gallon volume limit will not be collected unless the can, bag, or container is tagged with a city issued Excess Garbage Sticker.

The Excess Garbage Sticker is available for purchase at City Hall or New Braunfels Utilities. The cost of the excess garbage stickers is determined by a separate resolution of the city council and currently cost (5 for $10.83).

Recycling

Recycling is collected on one of your regular garbage days.  Recyclables should be placed at the curb on the day of collection by 7 a.m.

Recyclable items

Steel, tin, and aluminum food cans.  It is not necessary to remove paper labels from steel cans, but please rinse out all cans.
Paper items.  Newspapers, magazines, coupons, junk mail and envelopes, and phone books, etc. will be collected.  
Glass items.  All glass items, regardless of color, may be recycled.  Please rinse all bottles and jars and remove caps and lids.
Plastic items.  Any plastic bottle may be recycled.  No plastic grocery bags, please.  Rinse all jugs and bottles and remove caps and lids.  

NOT recyclable

   - Plastic bags, toys, dishes, bowls, buckets, Styrofoam
   - Window glass, auto glass, china, ceramics, light bulbs, mirrors
   - Plastic containers that held oil, antifreeze, or pesticides
   - Medical waste (needles, syringes, lancets)
   - Take-out pizza boxes
   - Aluminum foil

 WHAT’S IN OUR TRASH?

Let’s take a closer look at our trash and see how recycling could help reduce the solid waste stream.  It is estimated that 80% of the trash we throw away could be recycled.  Below is a list of the major components of our waste stream.  The largest component is paper at 41% followed by yard trimmings at 15%.  The removal of these two components alone would greatly reduce the 22 million tons of trash headed to Texas landfills each year.  

Interesting Facts 

   - 73% of garbage is buried in landfills, 14% is burned in incinerators, and 13% is recycled.
   - The U.S., while having 55 of the world’s population, produces 25% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.
   - One acre of trees can absorb the carbon dioxide produced by driving a car 26.000 miles.
   - Five recycled bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff 1 ski jacket.

 
WHY RECYCLE? 

• Recycling reduces our reliance on landfills and incinerators.
• Recycling protects our health and environment when harmful substances are removed from the waste stream.
• Recycling conserves our natural resources because it reduces the need for raw materials.
• Recycling creates many more jobs than landfill and incineration disposal options.
• If everyone in the U.S. recycled just 1/10 of their newsprint, we would save the estimated equivalent of 25 million trees per year.
• One ton of recycled paper uses: 64% less energy, 50% less water, 74% less pollution, saves 17 trees and creates 5 times more jobs than one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp.
• Aluminum takes 200 to 500 years to disintegrate.  The energy saved by recycling an aluminum can is enough to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning about 3 ½ hours.  It takes 95% less energy to produce an aluminum can from an existing one, than from ore.
• Each year, steel recycling saves the energy equivalent to electrically powering about one-fifth of the households in the U.S. (or about 18 million homes) for one year.
• Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.

 As concerned citizens and good stewards of our earth, let’s all act responsibly and do our part to reduce waste, preserve our Texas environment, prevent pollution, and conserve our precious natural resources.

 YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! 

Green Waste 

The Solid Waste Department picks up brush, grass, leaves and other yard waste separately from household garbage.  Collected brush and yard waste is taken to a mulching facility for processing.  To be collected, all grass clippings and other yard waste must be placed inside an official biodegradable yard waste bag. 

Under the program, residents are able to place their green waste at the curb on their normal recycling collection day and City crews will collect the waste and recycle it. 

Leaves, plant materials and grass clippings must be in biodegradable paper bags and placed at the curb in order to be picked up.  Tree trimmings and brush must be bundled and no longer than four feet in length.  Bags and bundles should not weigh for more 40 pounds. 

In addition to the limited number free bags available from the City, biodegradable paper bags are available for purchase at local retail stores and hardware stores.

Residents are advised that City crews will not pick up any plastic bags or garbage cans containing green waste.

The Green Waste Program is the latest in a series of waste reduction programs implemented by the City in keeping with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s goal of reducing the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposed of in the state by 40 percent.  A residential curbside-recycling program implemented some 11 years ago has diverted more than 10,300 tons of waste from the landfill, 1000 tons of which are green waste collected within the last three years.

Please adhere to the following instructions when placing your yard trimmings out for collection:

   - Place your yard trimmings at your collection point (street curb or alley) before 7:00 a.m. on your designated collection day to ensure pick-up.
   - Place biodegradable bags and stacks of cuttings at least four feet away from your recycling and/or refuse containers so they will not interfere with other collections.
   - Place only organic materials (leaves, plant materials and/or grass clippings) in biodegradable bags weighing no more than 40 pounds. Trash or refuse will contaminate the mulching process and may cause work-related injuries for our Solid Waste crews.
   - Tree trimmings and brush piles may not exceed four feet in length. Please place these materials in neat, manageable piles for manual collection.

DO NOT PLACE SOD OR SOIL IN THE BIODEGRADABLE BAGS. Please call the Solid Waste Department at 830-608-2140 for specific instructions for collection of these items.

Brush Pickup/Chipping and Shredding

Brush and tree limbs longer than four feet can be picked up or shredded for a fee.  The cost depends on the volume of material and charges are billed on a separate invoice.  To be shredded, limbs must not be larger than six inches in diameter and must not be longer than six feet.  The mulch can be taken to a site for other’s use or left on the site.  Please call the Solid Waste Department for additional information on services at 830-608-2140.

Bulky items

To request collection of bulky waste items such as discarded furniture or appliances call the Solid Waste Department at 830-608-2140.  There is a nominal fee for this service.   

Commercial Services

The City of New Braunfels is the exclusive provider of commercial waste and recycling services for business and industry in the New Braunfels city limits.  Private haulers may collect in the City providing they have a collection permit issued by the City. 

The Commercial Services Division offers fixed rates with no hidden charges, convenient and timely collection schedules and a variety of containers to meet your business needs. 

The most frequent types of containers used in the commercial industry are the front load containers.  These containers are capable of fulfilling most commercial business and apartment complex waste management needs.  The containers sizes available are:3,  4 , 6 , and 8 cubic yard front load and 3 cubic yard rear load with flexible collection schedules from two to six times a week.

Garbage Rate

All residential households must pay a monthly charge for curbside trash and recycling collection.  The charge is $11.14 per month for trash collection and $5.25 per month for recycling collection.  The monthly charge is included on your electric bill.  Questions regarding billing or payment should be directed to the City’s Solid Waste Department at 830-608-2140.

Service Requests or Complaints

If you are experiencing problems with your service or need information, contact the Solid Waste Department at 830-608-2140.

Holiday Collection

Garbage, recycling, and green waste collection will not be made on Christmas day.  Holiday collections are subject to change.

Materials Not Eligible for Collection

  - Concrete rock and trash from remodeling or roofing, major repairs, construction or demolition scraps
  - Household hazardous waste including motor oil and auto batteries
  - Dirt or sod
  - Hot coals or fireplace ashes

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 Please call 830-221-4041 for additional information

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