Let’s talk trash reduction, that necessary task that requires cooperation among governments, businesses, local organizations and residents. How are each participating in trash removal and recycling efforts in Bandera County? How can you help? (See bold print)
Residential Trash
Bandera County is rural and taxes do not cover curbside trash pickup. Instead, the county maintains a solid waste site in each of the four precincts for residents to drop off on Wednesdays and Saturdays in Bandera, Lakehills, Pipe Creek, and Medina. Visit the county’s website (www.BanderaCounty.org ) for the location and hours. Metal is usually accepted without a charge and no precincts take oil or liquids.
Two of the county dump sites are involved in the county recycling program at this time: Pct. 4 next to Mansfield Park and Pct. 2 in Lakehills. They recycle three items on Saturdays without a charge: aluminum cans, #1 PET plastic bottles (without lids) and corrugated cardboard. Saturdays in July averaged 69 visits to the Mansfield recycling site.
With a grant from HEB corporation through Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB), DON’T MAKE WASTE BANDERA built a RECYCLEmobile to collect, separate and transport materials from the various precinct collection sites to the central recycling station in Mansfield Park. The RECYCLEmobile enabled restart of recycling at the Lakehills waste site Saturdays in July from 9-12 am and 1-4 pm. The visits averaged 29 per Saturday in July.
An additional grant was made by KTB to the county for repairs of county balers used to compact the recycled materials at the recycling center next to Mansfield Park.
There are at least seven waste collection businesses that contract with county residents for trash pickup at curbside. Republic Services has a contract with the City of Bandera for curbside trash collection, but it does not include recycling. Tiger has a contract with the Dancing Bear subdivision (across from Pebble Beach in Medina County) to collect trash and recycle, but word from the corporate office is that the recycling will be discontinued on August 15.
We could identify only one trash collection service that recycles in Bandera County. Our Community is a new small business that collects trash in Lakehills and Pipe Creek. It recycles in cooperation with DON’T MAKE WASTE BANDERA.
Owner Mike Miller can be reached at 210-639-4914.
Trash Buildup in Yards and Empty Lots Some of the largest buildup of trash was revealed when my wife and I were delivering Meals on Wheels to disabled elderly residents in the county. We approached Art Crawford at Silver Sage to fund dumpsters brought into the lots and neighborhoods. Volunteers filled two 20yard dumpsters in Lakehills and two 40-yard dumpsters in the Whartons Dock area.
Other neighborhoods and lots can be cleared when additional funding is available. Recommendations are being received for trash removal in lots that may qualify for assistance to elderly and disabled residents. Send us an email: [email protected].
Road Trash
Road cleanups are left to groups of residents who organize to adopt a twomile segment of a state highway Texas Department of Transportation or of a county road through the Roads and Bridges department.
Bandera County roads and bridges superintendent John Andrade reports that there were four county road segments adopted this year under the new program. Mike Stiborik of Bridlegate subdivision can assist in adopting either a state or county road segment: (mike@recoverypart-ner911@ gmail.com).
Medina River Trash
The most valuable natural resource is also the one that is in greatest jeopardy at this time. The Medina River runs for almost fifty miles through the center of Bandera County and empties into Medina Lake.
An annual river cleanup has attracted an average of 200 participants from throughout the state, beginning in 2001 and continued until the pandemic in 2020, followed by a terrible drought stopped river flow in 2022.
Each year during the first Saturday in May, paddlers and shoreline hikers would fill at least one 40 cu yd dumpster with river trash and another with recyclable metal.
Since the Medina River Protection Fund was certified as a pubic charity in 2005, the funds raised from donations are available to continue the cleanup each year that the river flows again. See their website for real-time reports on river flow and height at various points and how you can help: medinariver.net.
There is good reason to expect more attention to trash reduction in Bandera County and nearby communities with a federal Environmental Protection Agency grant of over $700,00 to Silver Sage Hill Country Resource Center.
Their Hill Country Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Project is just now being developed to work with organizations and local governments in fourteen rural communities within Bandera, Kerr, Real and Uvalde counties.
The project will “inform the public about residential or community recycling programs.” DON’T MAKE WASTE BANDERA is a cooperative partner in this project.
Residents can join in to volunteer. DON’T MAKE WASTE BANDERA will help you navigate the field of opportunities.
Email to dontmakewastebandera@ gmail.com or visit us online: www. DMWB.net or on Facebook: Bandera Recycles.
