BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The City of Brownsville is turning redder.
That is because red-colored trash bins are now part of the landscape on city streets as the new recycle program went into effect on January 1.
However, the west side of the city is setting the services today, Friday, January 9.
The program is part of a citywide program to make the city more environmentally friendly and to join other cities that have gone green.
For example, Palm Valley, Rancho Viejo and Los Fresnos in Cameron County have been getting the curbside recycling services.
For home owners, getting a Redfish Recycling bin means they will be seeing an increase of 86 cents in their trash collection charges, which will amount to $37.80 for the existing and new services combined.
Currently, the trash pickup fee for one bin is $37.80 a month, but those who additional bins pay a little more.
The pickup schedule for a recycle bin is every other Friday. That is a day after the regular trash pickup.
Rose Timmer, spokeswoman with RR, said about 48,000 recycling bins were distributed throughout the city limits.
“Those numbers will increase with more (housing) developments,” said. “We also do commercial recycling all the way to Donna.”
The recycling program is not replacing the Recycling Center the city has on Elizabeth Street though it remains to be seen what is going happen for the time being.
Although the new program has been in place since the first of this month, some sectors of the city are just getting the services.
The west side of the city is one of them.
The long overdue program has been welcomed by many residents, but others aren’t so thrilled about it.
Sergio Valdez, a resident who lives along Western Street, a neighborhood known as Las Prietas, said the program is good but it also has other implications.
“There are some people in town who pickup paper, cardboard and aluminum cans to sell them,” he said. “What is going to happen to those wanting to make a few dollars here and there?
