Dripping Springs
Dripping Springs
Dripping Springs & TDS Waste Collection Q&A
We’ve got a new waste collection provider — Texas Disposal Systems — and we know you might have questions.
That’s why we sat down with Deputy City Administrator Shawn Cox and Jay Howard from TDS to answer the big ones:
🗓️ What’s changing?
📬 Did you get your letter or email?
♻️ What do you need to do now?
Listen to our quick Q&A and get the scoop straight from the source. It’s short, helpful, and just might save you from dragging your bins out on the wrong day.
Hey there, Dripping Springs. I'm Lisa Sullivan, the People and Communications Director for the City of Dripping Springs. If you've heard there's a change coming to your trash and recycling pickup, you heard right. We've got a new waste collection provider, Texas Disposal Systems. We know change can bring questions, so we're here to bring you answers straight from the source. I'm joined by Sean Cox, our Deputy City Administrator, and Jay Howard, the Senior Sales Manager for Texas Disposal Systems, or TDS for short. These are the people who can give us a scoop on why it's changing and what you need to do. So if you've gotten a letter or email, or even if you haven't, you will soon. This is for you. Let's talk trash, the good kind. Welcome, Sean and Jay. Hey, Sean, the big question that we're getting from everyone. Why did the city switch to Texas disposal systems?
SPEAKER_01:Primarily, it was time for us to do a new RFP process. We go through that process about every five to 10 years. We've had our current provider, I believe, since 2017. They bought a previous provider and then won the RFP bid process in 2020. And then it was just time to go back through that process. So what Dripping Springs does, like a number of cities our size throughout the state, we do what's called a request proposal or an RFP. We send that out to any number of solid waste providers who then respond to that RFP with essentially their bid package. Here's why we're the best company, best fit for the city of Dripping Springs. Reviewing all the information we received from all the companies that participated in the RFP process, council reviewed that and selected TDS primarily because that's who they felt would provide the best service and best value for the city.
SPEAKER_00:Got it. Great. Thank you. Giving us a little kind of background into how City Council works. I love it. Hey, Jay, tell us a little bit about your company. I've heard good things. We've heard good things. Tell us why the customers are going to be happy.
SPEAKER_01:Sure, sure. So TDS, first of all, we're a local family-owned and operated business. I started here in the Austin area back in 1977 when the Gregory family were a one-truck, one-crew operation. And in that time, we've grown to one of the largest independently-owned resource management companies in the country. We've got a very unique business model. Of course, obviously, we operate trucks and crews. The business owners and the residents in town will see us. They're providing service. But in addition to that, our facility just on the other side of Buda, we operate a large-scale landfill facility. where everyone's waste will go. That landfill was recognized by the Solid Waste Association. North America is the best landfill on the continent. Very proud of that. We operate Square Foot MRF, which stands for Material Recovery Facility. That's where we process the recyclables, where we sort those commingled materials into the various commodities so they can be recycled and reused. We're processing about 350 tons of material from our customers per day there. We also operate a large-scale organics facility where we take wood waste, food waste, yard waste, and convert that to materials such as compost and soil blends. We're processing about 70,000 tons per year there, all material diverted from the landfill, material that would have otherwise been landfills. In addition, we've got a construction and demolition recycling facility, a glass recycling facility. a scrap metal recycling facility. The list goes on and on. Dozens of future connected business models. So, you know, our business is really built on a number of things. One is exceptional service to our customers. We've been partnering with the greater Austin market for decades. We've never had a single municipal customer that's left us for one of our competitors. And it says everything about how we take care of our customers, how we provide service. in a reliable, efficient manner. And those relationships that we build within the community, we truly take these opportunities to partner with the communities that trust us to take care of their residents and businesses. So we're very proud to get to partner with the City of Dripping Springs moving forward.
SPEAKER_00:Great. Thank you for that. So when will service officially begin? It's
SPEAKER_01:a good question. So it starts July 1st. And the dates that we're going to be providing service in Dripping Springs are Mondays and Tuesdays. So because of the last day of June falling on Monday and the first day of July falling on Tuesday, our first service day is going to be Tuesday the 1st. So Tuesday residents first pickup will be next week. And Monday customers first pickup will be the following week.
SPEAKER_00:Got it. I like that because my current is now Monday. So now next week I get two pickups. So if I've got a lot of trash, it's working out great for me, Jay. Thank you. So what should the residents have received so far, the people that are going to be on this service?
SPEAKER_01:So we've sent out the first invoice. Everything bills in advance. So we took that opportunity to put together a letter, giving them a brief explanation of what to expect. With that letter, there's a URL and a QR code, which we'll link to a page that has all the pertinent information to residential services. So everyone should receive that. Lisa, I know you've done a lot of work through social media to get that message out as well on the city's website. And the cart delivery actually started about a week ago, last Wednesday, and will continue through tomorrow or Friday. We're getting close to wrapping that up. But everyone should be receiving, if they haven't already by the end of this week, a trash cart. And those who already had recycling service should have received a recycle cart too. And on the lid of that cart is that same QR that folks can scan, and it will take them to that page that has all the information about recycling. the services and your schedule and that information.
SPEAKER_00:Great. And for the listeners too, and at the end, I'll give you our URL that all the information can also be found on our website and how you can contact customer care at TDS. So Sean, this is the other big question. I keep giving you the hard questions. Sorry. Will prices, we get calls at City Hall and people are posting on social media, will prices go up?
SPEAKER_01:So prices will go up about$1.55 per month if you have both recycling and garbage collection. So I think solid waste or garbage collection actually dropped to$14.80 a month, but recycling went up to$6.75. So you get that price. But it does go up a little bit. But one thing I'll mention is we haven't had a price change since 2022. And that was two years after the original price was set.
SPEAKER_00:That's a good explanation. So thank you. And yes, if we haven't seen an increase, yes. But I think I want to point out too that, and you tell me, recycling is optional, correct? So if they don't want to do recycling, that can save them money. We hope everyone recycles, but yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So yes, recycling in the city is an optional option. It's an option that you have. You can choose to use it or not. If you have it, like Jay said, they're going to drop that new card out. If you don't, you can reach out to TPS and set that service up. If it's something you'd like to get into.$6.80 a month for recycling. It's less than I pay in the same general area for the same service. So it's a pretty good deal for me.
SPEAKER_00:No, and we're in Dripping Springs and we care about the environment. So yes, please recycle everyone. One of the things that I'm getting questions on, will bulk still be included?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, and I'll let Jay probably, he's got a better idea of the schedule on that than I do. Absolutely. So on that welcome packet, all that information that people have access to, the schedule will be on there. Bulk pickup, will be every other week. And bulk pickup will include up to four cubic yards of items. So obviously bulk, there's a couple categories there. Bulky items would include things such as furniture, appliances that folks need to get rid of if they replace them. You know, large items that wouldn't fit in your car. And one thing that we like to point out that if the refrigerator is a bulky item you need to get rid of, it does need to be tagged by a technician that the Freon has been removed. And that's just a restriction to what can go in a TCEQ approved landfill. But bulk also includes brush, yard waste. We ask that yard waste be in paper, those craft paper bags you can buy at Home Depot. So we know that it's yard waste, but bundled brush, Those types of materials also are included in that four cubic yards every other week.
SPEAKER_00:Got it. And the old provider, whatever provider you had, what is going to happen with those carts and bins?
SPEAKER_01:So we've been in close conversation with the incumbent service provider. On the commercial side, we've been swapping out their containers for ours, and they've continued to service our containers. It just makes for a smoother transition. Again, we've been delivering carts for the last week and we'll wrap that up by the end of this week. Their expectation is on their last service day for your home that you leave those carts out there. They're going to service them and then they're going to have crews following behind to collect those carts. There's a possibility that they might get missed and that would be something that you'd need to reach out to Ways Connections and make sure they're aware and are able to get those. But it should go pretty smoothly that We'll service your container and then pick it up shortly after.
SPEAKER_00:Great. And Sean, I don't know if this would be you or Jay, but if a person is living in the city but not using Waste Connections, what's going to happen there? Do they go to TDS or how does this all work?
SPEAKER_01:So if you're in the city, like I mentioned earlier, the city has a single contract for solid waste provision in the city. And again, like I mentioned, that's to keep just an enormous amount of trucks off the road and also people to not tear up our roads, so to speak. So if you're in the city limits of the city of Dripping Springs and you have a provider other than Waste Connections right now, then yeah, you will need to reach out to TDS or Waste Connections to cancel that service and get on with TDS. If you'll contact the city, we're happy to walk you through that process and put you in contact with the right people and work them through that process.
SPEAKER_00:Got it. Got it. Thank you. So any other big things that you think we should tell our listeners?
SPEAKER_01:I would point out, if you haven't downloaded it already, TDS has an app for the phone. I think it's called Waste Wizard. I use it. I've got TDS at home personally. I've had it for years. And it is the only thing that lets you know whether it's recycling or recycling and trash. And it pops up as a reminder on my phone the night before. So it keeps me in line. If they've had route changes or anything like that, that helps. apps pushed out that information. So it's been useful for me. I think others would find it useful as well. Yeah, I appreciate you mentioning that, Sean. It's a great tool. I use it too. And in my house, my son takes the trash out. So it's that opportunity to remind him, hey, tomorrow's the day. It's great because you can set it up for a phone call notification, an email notification, a text notification, whatever you prefer to remind you of your regular schedule. But it's great because also if there's any other things that need to be communicated like oh this week is a holiday you know your day is gonna roll one day or if there is something unexpected going on that's delaying our routes a few hours longer than usual we're able to push those notification folks so there's no questions they know what's going on and there's also a piece on that app tool that allows people if they've got a question about hey is this recyclable or should this go on my trash they can put that item in and it will clarify that for them too. Yeah, we really encourage everybody to download that as soon as they get the opportunity and register and we'll get all that information automatically.
SPEAKER_00:Great. That's wonderful. So, okay. So I'm going to wrap it up. Thanks for joining us. For all of you listening, we hope this helped answer your questions about the transition to TDS. For your waste and recycling, big thanks to Sean and Jay for taking the time to walk us through what to expect. Remember, if you didn't get a letter or email, or if you still have questions, you can go to our website, cityofdrippingsprings.com. There's a link at the top of the homepage that will give you more information, including a copy of the welcome packet, FAQs, and more. And you can also contact TDS Customer Care at customercareattexasdisposal.com. That information is on our website, so it's easily accessible. Thank you again, Jay and Sean. And to everyone, we're here to make this a smooth transition. Thanks for tuning in, Dripping Springs. And as always, we appreciate you staying connected and informed. Catch you next time.