Texas Disposal Systems’ Rick Fraumann finds plenty of willing takers among Christina Hoover’s second-grade Fuentes Elementary class for a question he poses during Tuesday morning’s visit to the local school. Fraumann, who serves as TDS Director of Sales and Customer Care, joined other representatives of the company and Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson to talk with Kyle students who are already months into a successful Hays CISD pilot program with TDS to implement single stream recycling and composting. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
STAFF REPORT
Accompanied by a classroom of Fuentes Elementary School second graders, city of Kyle officials kicked off the city’s expanded curbside single stream recycling and compost service on Monday.
The new three-cart program – the first of its kind in Central Texas, officials say – allows residential customers to fill one 96 gallon cart with unsorted recyclables and another with compost and yard waste. The third cart is for normal, unrecyclable trash.
“Single stream recycling and composting make it convenient and easy for Kyle residents to put less waste in landfills and help recover and re-use valuable materials,” Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson said. “We think these new services will encourage our residents to help make our city one of the greenest in Central Texas.”
Fuentes Elementary was chosen for the roll out because it is part of a Hays CISD recycling pilot program. Students at the school receive special lessons on environmental topics each week as part of its “Eco School” program.
Launch of the citywide single stream recycling and composting services follows a well-received pilot program that covered about 800 households in the Amberwood and Indian Paintbrush subdivisions last year. Average landfill diversion rates increased from two percent to approximately 25 percent as a result of the program.
Recycling will now be collected as a single stream, mixing all accepted recyclables together in one cart and compostable and green waste materials in another cart, with each cart being collected every other week. Trash will continue to be collected weekly.
Texas Disposal Systems has completed delivery of additional 96-gallon carts for the new program to single-family homes, one with a tan lid for recycling and another cart with a green lid for compost.
Recyclable materials under the single stream program include paper (junk mail, newspapers, magazines), cardboard (cereal boxes, shipping boxes, shoe boxes) and containers (made of plastic, metal, aluminum and glass, including bottles and cans).
Acceptable composting materials include yard debris (grass clippings, tree and shrub limbs) and soiled paper and cardboard (pizza boxes, paper towels, napkins).
Recyclables are taken to TDS’s new materials recycling facility in Creedmoor where the materials are separated, processed and sent to market. Additionally, TDS has a compost operation where the materials picked up from homes are turned into compost, soil and other products that are sold at Garden-Ville Nursery and other retail stores and used by gardeners throughout Central Texas.
Items recycled at the facility are environmentally beneficial because recycling materials such as paper, glass and metal helps protect valuable natural resources, saves energy, promotes clean air and water, and conserves landfill space.
“We’re excited to help Kyle lead the way in enhancing their recycling and composting efforts and maximizing their diversion rates,” said Rick Fraumann with Texas Disposal Systems.
Kyle residents will see a $2.67 per month increase in their bill for the additional services, which also includes once per year large bulk and brush collection. Kyle residents can contact TDS once per year to have items such as furniture, appliances and bundled brush of up to 3 cubic yards (approximately the size of a washer and dryer) picked up at no additional charge.
For more information on the new program and to view informational videos for single stream recycling and compost service, visit www.texasdisposal.com/kyle
