EL PASO, Texas — Residents in El Paso could one day roll their gray and blue carts out back to the alley rather than the street under a proposal the city put up for public comment Friday.
The city’s Environmental Services Department wants to rewrite a section of the municipal code, Title 9, so whoever leads the department can decide where gray and blue bins are collected, including shifting pickup from curbs to alleyways. Right now, any change in where bins are placed for pickup has to go through City Council.
Nicholas Ybarra, who directs Environmental Services, said the goal is safer, easier collection, especially for residents who have trouble hauling 96-gallon bins out to the curb. He said the added flexibility would let the department pick the best spot for each route while making the work safer for both households and collection crews.
Before anything changes, the department is holding six neighborhood meetings where residents can hear the plan, ask questions and weigh in. Sessions start Monday and are held twice weekly through Nov. 18:
The first session is Monday evening, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m. at the city’s Westside command center, which sits at 4801 Osbourne Dr. On Thursday, Nov. 12, residents can choose between the Northeast command center at 9600 Dyer St. and the library at 1865 Dean Martin Dr., both starting at 6 p.m.
The following week, the community center at 3134 Jefferson Ave. hosts a 5:30 p.m. session on Nov. 17. Two sessions close out the series on Wednesday, Nov. 18. One starts at 5:30 p.m. at 13501 Jason Crandall. The other begins at 6 p.m. at 901 N. Virginia St.
Households that already wrestle large carts down long driveways are the ones most likely to notice a switch. The feedback gathered at the meetings is meant to shape how the code change is written before it moves forward.
