(Seguin) — If you’ve got trash or big bulky items to throw out, then you’ve got two more weeks in which to take advantage of Guadalupe County’s two trash collections sites.
Carmen Davila, the public information officer for Guadalupe County, says both of the county’s trash collections sites, located in Marion and Kingsbury, will officially close on Oct. 31.
“There has been lots of talk during Commissioners Court for several months regarding the contract not being renewed by Republic Services. Republic Services informed the county in June that they would no longer renew their contract. Therefore, leaving the option open for us to put out another request for proposal to find a new agreement that allows for similar trash services to be made available for residents in rural areas. We’ve only received one bid at that time of the closing and that was Waste Connections,” said Davila.
Davila says the submission of that one bid has led to ongoing negotiations between Guadalupe County and Waste Connections.
“Right now, what is happening is the commissioners court has entered negotiations with Waste Connections regarding the contract terms to meet the required service needed to operate for our road and bridge department for the way they dispose of recycling and trash for the county –work that the road and bridge department does. Discussions are continuing with commissioners’ court and our purchasing department in order to offer some cleanup amnesty days – working through that with Waste Connections. What that looks like right now is not definite. We don’t have definite details on how that is going to work,” said Davila.
Davila reminds county residents that the future for trash services is still pending and encourages the public to seek out their own remedy once the sites close.
“There are several services that now offer garbage pickup in the rural area and that hasn’t been seen before. This is a contract that goes back to 2019 when there were not as many services picking up garbage collections at curbsides in rural areas and now there is. So, we are hoping that residents will look out for a service that they want to connect with and engage in their own personal contract,” said Davila.
Despite the outcome of the negotiations, Davila says the county realizes that the service that has been provided over these last few years will no longer look the same.
“Those two locations were servicing either daily trash – they would weigh them and then they would dispose of the trash and then pay it by the bag. That type of service will no longer exist. People are able to dispose of their trash at two location sites that are operated by other companies. There is the Post Oak Dump. There is the Beck Disposal System as well as the Mesquite Landfill and I’m sure there are several others in this county that will work with residents on their bulk items. How they want to take their regular trash, that will be up to each resident,” said Davila.
Not only will services not be the same but the Marion and Kingsbury locations are not likely to be part of the trash services from here on out.
County officials say they do expect the two sites to be quite busy until their closing on Oct. 31.
The Kingsbury collection station is located at FM 2438. The Marion station is also available at 140 Vernell Ln.