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Dripping Springs updates residents on transition to Texas Disposal Systems after service switch
Summary
City staff and Texas Disposal Systems officials told council the switch from Waste Connections has involved widespread communications, delivery of roughly 2,800 trash carts and 140 commercial dumpsters, an access-code billing glitch that prompted emails, and targeted follow-up for missed customers.
Dripping Springs staff and representatives from Texas Disposal Systems (TDS) updated the City Council on a municipal switch in solid-waste providers and steps being taken to resolve service gaps.
City staff said website banners, social-media posts and a TDS welcome packet with QR codes and FAQs were posted to inform residents of the July 1 provider change. TDS began residential trash-cart deliveries June 18'30 and reported about 2,800 trash carts and roughly 400 recycling carts delivered, with recycling completion expected by the next midday. Commercial dumpster deliveries began June 16; staff said about 140 commercial dumpsters had been delivered.
Staff explained service assignments were based on customer lists provided by Waste Connections; residents who previously had recycling were assigned recycling carts but any household may request recycling service. Council members raised concerns about households inside city limits that did not receive carts because their Waste Connections records lacked city, state or ZIP-code fields or because they were not on the prior provider's list.
Jay Howard of TDS acknowledged higher-than-usual call volume tied to the initial billing rollout. A manual override sent bills earlier than the usual schedule, and some printed bills omitted individualized access codes needed for online account setup. TDS said it had emailed the missing codes, posted them on the city website and staffed a team on the ground to address missed deliveries; call-wait times were improving as the backlog fell.
Council members urged more outreach to residents who do not use social media; staff pledged to distribute hard-copy information and continue updating the city's "waste collection" webpage and FAQs. Staff also said they would coordinate with TDS on follow-up for addresses that were missed or had nonstandard mailing addresses (for example, Driftwood). The council was told the franchise remains a single-provider agreement and that residents are not required to change their disposal habits immediately but the city will assist those who need carts or billing help.
Next steps: staff will continue to update FAQs, monitor TDS call-center metrics, post corrected billing information online, and track any remaining missed deliveries so TDS can make on-the-ground corrections.
