A Recycling Field Trip

This morning I went on a field trip of sorts to search for recycling options in Stephenville. I was pleasantly surprised at the results. Stephenville has some options for people who want to recycle. In order to map out my first stop, I called the City of Stephenville water department to ask about trash collection and recycling. Stephenville doesn’t have curbside recycling, but the water department employee told me to call their trash contractor, Waste Connections at 254-968-8173. Turns out that Waste Connections has some recycling bins, so I took a drive over to 1291 N. Bates to find the bins. Waste Connections has three large bins to the left of the maintenance barn. They are outside of the fenced-in area and are not manned, so residents can drop off cardboard, paper boxes and plastic at any time. They don’t accept glass. The bins were a bit full, but someone from the city told me just to call the Waste Connections number to let them know.

I called Sara Koonce who works for the City of Stephenville to find out if there were any other recycling options. She thought that Tarleton might have a recycling center. Indeed they do. I called the TSU Recycle Center at 254-968-8059, and learned that they have a manned center. They take more types of recyclables, but they don’t take glass. So my next stop was 2451 CR 518. The TSU Center is open Monday-Friday 8:30 am-4 pm. They take cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic milk jugs, paper products, aluminum cans, tin cans and more. I’ve lived in Stephenville three years and I had no idea there was a recycling center. (I should take more field trips.)

I next took a drive to the Stephenville City Hall to speak with Sara Koonce in person about the City of Stephenville’s recycling events. Each year in August, the city conducts a hazardous waste pickup. Residents who have hazardous waste can pick up a voucher from the water department in City Hall and then take their hazardous waste for removal. (The event date and time is always printed on your water bill.) It’s free for Stephenville residents. Twice a year (in April and October,) the city collects computers and electronic recyclables. Sara said that the information on these events is also printed on your water bill.

​On Saturday, October 21 Stephenville and county residents can take their old electronics to the Municipal Service Center (1201 Glen Rose Road-Hwy 67.) Items will be collected from 9 am to 1 pm (or until the truck is full.) Most items are free to collect. They include: computers, laptops, cell phones, servers, racking, printers, fax machines, copiers, routers, switches, cabling, phone systems, stereos, speakers, DVD players, VCRs, LCD TVs, cameras, car batteries, etc.) It costs $20 to recycle a box TV and the RAKI Computer Recycling Staff only accepts cash. Pretty much everything else is free to recycle. You can contact Sara with the City of Stephenville if you need more information. Her email is [email protected] and her number is 254-918-1292.
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Hopefully, Stephenville will explore additional recycling options in the future. A pilot program for curbside recycling might be a good next step. Other surrounding cities of comparable size have already implemented curbside recycling programs. The easier we make recycling, the more people will adopt it as habit.