Garbage News

All of the changes in Dallas' holiday garbage pickup schedule, explained

Compelling photo of trash bin.

ClassicNew

The holidays affect our lives in Dallas in ways large and small, and that includes our trash pick up.

Due to the Christmas and New Year's holidays, which this year fall on a Monday, the city of Dallas has modified the garbage and recycle collections for all sanitation customers during the weeks of December 25 and January 1.

Nobody goes unscathed.

There will be no garbage or recycle collections on Monday, December 25 or Monday, January 1.

All garbage and recycle collections during these two weeks will be delayed by one day. If your trash usually gets picked up on Monday, it'll come on Tuesday instead. Stay with me here. Tuesday goes to Wednesday, Wednesday goes to Thursday, Thursday goes to Friday, and Friday goes to Saturday.

Technically, for the sanitation workers, it's not really a day off. It's just working on Saturday instead of Monday. This is similar to the situation at CultureMap, where workers get the holiday off, but still need to have stories posted. Sanitation workers, we feel you.

McCommas Bluff Landfill and the city’s transfer stations will also be closed on Monday, December 25, and Monday, January 1.

Customers are certainly allowed to place their carts out for collection on their normal collection day, if it's too complicated for them to remember. Otherwise they can wait until the following day, when the carts will actually be picked up.

Carts must be set out no later than 7 am on the collection day.

Also, here's a thing: Did you know that you're not supposed to put your trash cart and your recycling cart right smack next to each other? Like my neighbor does? Sanitation requests that you leave a 3-foot space in between the two bins so that their automatic bin arm can get in there and get a handle on the bin. If they're too close, it complicates that process.

Someone needs to send this story to my neighbor, with that portion about the gap between the two bins highlighted.

This change in service does not change the schedule for brush and bulky item collections, which will still occur during the normally scheduled week.

If this story does not sufficiently explain the garbage situation, customers can visit Dallas.gov/Sanitation for more information.

politics

E-Cigarette News

Dallas City Council places restrictions on vaping in public

Unsplash

Man vaping

Vaping will now be banned exactly like smoking, thanks to a new ordinance from the Dallas City Council.

At their December 11 meeting, the council passed an ordinance to ban vaping in all the same areas where smoking is not allowed. It'll go into effect on December 11, 2025 — giving everyone a year to get into compliance.

Proposed by City of Dallas Environmental Commission (EVC) and the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability (OEQS), the ordinance amends the definition of “smoking” in the Dallas City Code to include the use of vaping devices.

The ordinance does not ban vaping — it only bans where you can vape: no vaping in all indoor and enclosed spaces; within 15 feet of building entrances; and on park property. The ordinance also bans marijuana smoking in those same places.

In addition, the amendment requires restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and other businesses to update their signage to clearly state that both smoking and electronic smoking devices are prohibited.

The ordinance already earned widespread support from health organizations such as the Dallas County Health and Human Services, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association. These organizations, along with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Surgeon General, have all raised concerns about the health risks of direct and second-hand exposure to vaping aerosols, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children and older adults.

Dallas is not the first city to impose such a ban: San Antonio enacted a similar ban in October. Theirs goes into effect on January 1, 2025.

politics