NewsWest 9
WEST TEXAS--Not all city services will be available due to the Christmas holiday, so Midland and Odessa officials are asking everyone to act responsibly.
"If your trash is normally picked up on Wednesday, you're looking at four days before your trash is picked up again," Andrea Goodson, with the City of Odessa, said.
Even though they'll be taking a day or two off to celebrate with their families this Christmas, workers in the solid waste departments in Midland and Odessa will be working overtime when they get back to get your dumpsters empty, so they can collect more trash.
According to Morris Williams, Jr., Director of Solid Waste for the City of Midland, "The containers will be full. We want to make sure, any extra trash, additional trash, make sure to hold on to it until we make our first pass, which will be the Monday after Christmas."
With less trash being picked up over the next couple of days, you can expect dumpsters to get more than a little full. City officials aren't telling you not to throw your trash away, just do it with a little common sense.
"If you have to put trash in the dumpster, put it "in" the dumpster. Make sure it's bagged, as well. If someone comes along behind you and doesn't close that lid, and you didn't bag your trash, our West Texas wind will take it right out of that dumpster," Goodson said.
If you have to throw away something recyclable, say cardboard, between now and the first of next week, when they start regular trash pick-up, officials say you should break it down and push it down into the dumpster, as far as it will go. If it's everyday kitchen trash, make sure it's in a garbage bag, sealed, then dump it in and close the lid.
Many people like to take their trees down the day after Christmas. If that's you, you are reminded, neither the dumpster nor the alley is the place for your tree's new home. For one thing, it's not pretty and second, it's not safe.
According to Williams, "Anything outside the containers, we just don't have the time to stop and pick all that stuff up."
"Those trees are dry and they become a fire hazard and that's already a problem we're having because of weather conditions," Goodson said.
It's not likely to happen around Christmas time, there could be a price to pay if you get caught being a Christmas litter bug.
"It is illegal to litter so, yes, it is a possibility to be fined for that," Goodson said.
"In extreme cases, yes it can be done," Williams added.
