Republic Services presented its annual service report to the Highland Village City Council during the Sept. 23 work session, saying the city is entering year three of a five‑year hauling contract and that the contract provides for a 4% annual price increase.

"It's that time of year again. We're coming into year 3 of our 5 year contract with public services," said Jerry Harwell, who led the Republic Services presentation to council. Harwell noted the 4% increase is "by contract" and appears in both the agenda briefing and the presentation.

The presentation reviewed the city's October 2024-through‑August (reporting period) tonnage. Harwell said residential tonnage has been “very consistent,” while industrial and commercial tonnage fluctuate as businesses and construction activity change. She told council that yard‑waste tonnage shows the largest month‑to‑month swings and that trash tonnage generally outweighs recyclables, which affects diversion calculations.

Why it matters: the report provides the council a baseline for service performance and cost changes under the current franchise agreement, and it flagged operational issues the city may want to address in communications with residents and in future contract planning.

Major details from the presentation

Tonnage and diversion — Harwell said the city’s single‑stream recycling and residential tonnage were steady during the reporting window, but yard waste varied by season. She recommended the city begin reporting some open‑market recycling volumes (commercial recycling collected outside the franchise) to give a fuller picture of total recycling in Highland Village, while noting those volumes do not currently count toward the city's contractual diversion totals.

Open market recycling — Harwell explained that business recycling is often "open market," meaning commercial customers can select their own recycling vendor and that state rules can limit what a franchise can require for commercial recycling. She said a few cities require apartment recycling be handled through the contracted hauler, but businesses are more difficult to mandate without running into legal issues.

Participation and contamination — The presentation flagged participation metrics and contamination controls. Harwell said participation (households that set out recycling carts) can be low in some months; she pointed to March as an example when about 42% of serviceable households set out a recycling cart on average for the month. She described contamination monitoring at Republic’s material recovery facilities, saying the overall contamination rate at the Plano MRF is 18.4% and that Republic Services monitors field crews for contamination and tags contaminated loads.

Missed collections and customer perception — Harwell framed reported "misses" as the customer's perception: if a resident reports a missed pickup, Republic traces the call and logs it as a miss even if the truck recorded no stop. She said 17 reported trash misses in a month is low relative to the number of pickup opportunities (she estimated roughly 20,000 stops in a month) but noted drivers are held accountable and misses are investigated to identify operational causes.

Green‑waste rules and resident guidance — Harwell urged clearer city communications about acceptable green‑waste material. She said mulch bags are preferred because they can be taken directly to composting facilities; plastic bags and metal cannot be mulched and will be refused. She explained Republic will not accept customer containers for heavy grass clippings because loaded containers can exceed 50 pounds and create safety and street‑mess issues.

Bulk pickup and special items — Bulk pickup rules were described as a 3‑cubic‑yard limit for routine bulk service, with the practical limit guided by worker safety (two or more crew members handle heavy items). Appliances and items containing refrigerant must be evacuated and properly marked before collection; special pickups can be scheduled and priced separately.

Landfill access and fees — Several council members raised questions about resident use of the landfill and whether the service is free. Harwell said residents do use the landfill and that disposal charges apply; she committed to researching the homeowner fee structure and to report back to council. She emphasized the hauling company pays the landfill a disposal fee and that the city’s reported "free hauls" describe roll‑off equipment rental waivers rather than waived disposal charges.

Customer tools and tracking — Harwell demonstrated Republic’s customer portal and “track my truck” tool, which lets residents view the status of trash, recycling and bulk pickups and submit exchange or miss reports online. She said the tool reduces incoming calls to city staff and integrates directly with Republic’s reporting.

Council questions and next steps

Council members asked for follow‑up on contamination rates specific to Highland Village (Harwell said Republic can perform a city‑level audit), clarification of resident landfill charges (Harwell said she would research and respond to the council), and additional social‑media guidance on acceptable green‑waste practices.

Harwell said she would include open‑market recycling data in future reports for the council’s information (noting it does not currently alter contractual diversion totals) and would provide the requested clarifications on landfill fee practice and city‑specific contamination numbers.

Ending

Republic Services closed by saying it will provide follow‑up information to the full council and staff, and asked the council to advise staff on any additional data they would like included in subsequent annual reports.

(Reporting note: presentation excerpts, examples and metrics are taken verbatim from the Republic Services presentation to council on Sept. 23, 2025.)