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Longview public works proposes new recycling pickup schedule, warns contaminated loads could cost more
Summary
Public Works Director Dwayne Archer told the City Council that the city will propose shifting recycling collection to the day after residents' normal trash pickup starting Nov. 3 to reduce contamination at the Kilgore MRF and avoid higher fees for contaminated loads.
Longview Public Works Director Dwayne Archer proposed the city change residential recycling pickup to the day after a household’s regular trash day and begin the new schedule Nov. 3 to reduce contamination in the city’s recycling stream.
Archer told the City Council that the city’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) partner in Kilgore charges a $75 per-ton tipping fee for acceptable loads but has proposed charging $150 per ton for contaminated loads, which has prompted the city to consider operational changes and a public outreach campaign.
The change would shift recycling pickup to the day after each home’s trash collection (trash trucks Monday–Thursday; recycling trucks Tuesday–Friday). Archer said the shift is intended to encourage residents who are committed to recycling to set a cart out on the correct day rather than leaving recyclables mixed with trash on trash day. He warned that blue-lidded recycling carts set out on trash day would be collected as trash.
Archer described contamination the MRF is seeing in residential carts — including plastic bags, film, and loose trash — and said contaminated loads force the city to either pay the higher contaminated-load fee or return the truck to the landfill, both costly outcomes. “We do see a lot of bins out there with the blue lid that people are just using for trash,” Archer said. “If somebody’s willing to put the effort into it, that their materials get recycled properly.”
Archer also discussed acceptable materials and market changes. He said the MRF partner reported having a market for plastics labeled 1 through 7 and the city will update public guidance; he separately cautioned that film (plastic bags and similar) damages MRF machinery and should not be placed in carts. He listed the core accepted materials as paper and cardboard, household metal cans and plastics (per the MRF guidance), and urged residents to place recyclables loose in carts rather than inside plastic bags.
Councilmembers asked logistics questions: how the new route schedule would work for residents whose trash day falls on a Friday (Archer said trash runs Monday–Thursday so recycling would not force Saturday collection), how residents could request replacement carts (call the public works number 237-1240 or use the city portal), and whether the change would increase staff flexibility or allow preventive maintenance on recycling trucks (Archer said yes to both). Archer said the city will run stickers on carts and increase communications to notify residents of the change.
No formal council action was taken; Archer presented the operational proposal and the council discussed outreach and enforcement steps. Archer said the city would begin outreach immediately with a target start date of Nov. 3 for the new collection pattern.
