Let’s talk trash—and since it’s Spring, let’s learn how a neighborhood might work together to do a spring cleaning.
Rural residents know there is little tax money set aside for trash clearance in the county budget. Unincorporated areas usually lack city services like curbside trash pickup and recycling. Trash builds up in yards, affecting the natural beauty--and property values--of every home nearby.
Pebble Beach on Medina Lake is an unincorporated area of Bandera County with fewer than half of its 459 owners as occupants. They have tried for years to get their residents to engage in spring cleaning on the neighborhood level. This year—their third try within a decade—may have produced model cleanup that finally works.
Seven years ago, the property owners’ association decided to hold a neighborhood Spring cleanup. The POA forewarned residents in their newsletter that the Texas Health and Safety Code prohibits “keeping, storing or accumulating rubbish… in a neighborhood or within 300 ft. of a public street for ten days or more, unless the rubbish or object is completely enclosed in a building or is not visible from a public street.”
One of the residents offered to take any metal accumulating in the yards of residents, if they put it out on the curb and call to have it picked up. March 30, 2019 was set aside for metal haul-off day. On April 1, the neighborhood was much the same. Few people called for metal haul-off, a fraction of the total rubbish buildup.
Another four years passed before a renewed effort to clean up the neighborhood, this time with letters from the POA to a half dozen properties that were clearly in violation of the Health and Safety Code. The letters went out three times to violators. After the third warning, the county constable was notified with photos of the violations. There were more delays, noncompliance, and no action.
Three years passed before last month’s neighborhood cleanup was proposed. A completely different approach was tried: neighbors helping neighbors clear out their unwanted items and trash. Here’s how it worked.
Don’t Make Waste Bandera, a public charity formed to improve the county’s natural environment, offered to place a large dumpster in the neighborhood if the POA could get neighbors to fill it with trash—anything that could go into a landfill.
The POA accepted the offer when a board member offered her extra lot as a staging area for collecting trash. A key to implementation of the plan was that Susan Lockhart, with her partner, Rod Gonzalez, would oversee screening and loading of the dumpster.
A notice to all residents described the haul-off process:
• Bag unwanted trash and throw-aways; set them on the front lawn, with metal separated.
• Help would be available for moving heavy appliances.
• Send a text of the address and a photo of trash to the haul-off coordinator.
• Haul-off would be done by volunteers with trailers during a two-week period in March.
Big R Scrap Metal Removal, owned by former neighbor Ralph Carrasco, made stops at those homes with piles of metal. Several board members worked with Susan and Rod to pick up other trash, as well as unwanted furniture set out by residents.
A 30-cubic yard dumpster was filled within a week. A second dumpster (40 cyd) was added by the Pebble Beach POA. Dumpster rentals were paid for by donations from the residents.
Seventy homes participated. Here’s what was removed:
• 8.1 tons of trash;
• 7.2 tons of metal and cardboard were recycled, including 55 washers, dryers, refrigerators and AC units;
• An undetermined number of sofas, TVs, beds, utilities and other furniture were set out for “free” and repurposed for use in other homes. The Pebble Beach spring cleanup provides a model for neighbor-helping- neighbor at a fraction of the cost of contracting a commercial cleanup. The key was that neighbors took ownership of the cleanup process and paid for it with their own dollars and sweat.
Robert Brischetto is president of Don’t Make Waste Bandera. DMWB is a 501(c)(3) public charity. For help in planning a neighborhood cleanup, contact them by email: [email protected].
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