Red River pulls plug on trash collection before contract expires

In Guadalupe Martinez's front yard in Cameron Park, small plastic bags are full of trash - a makeshift replacement for a missing garbage can.

A week before Red River Waste Solutions' contract expired in the colonia, the company removed more than 1,000 garbage cans, leaving residents without a place to deposit their trash.

Allied Waste Solutions will take over waste collection services in the community on Sept. 1. Their contract will last five years.

Until then, Martinez says, she'll keep piling more plastic bags in front of her house. "We're left waiting," she said.

The problem is the latest misstep in Red River's patchy tenure in Cameron Park, residents said. In June, Commissioner Edna Tamayo told The Brownsville Herald that the service was "a nightmare."

A number of Cameron Park residents have called Commissioner John Wood's office with complaints.

"People want to know, what do I do with my trash now?" Wood said. "Personally, I think this week belongs to Red River. They should have left the cans there."

Some residents signed contracts with Red River that were supposed to cover the next month or two. In those cases, Wood says Red River has promised to deliver refunds.

"We're asking the public to call Allied Waste to request a container," Cameron County's Solid Waste Administrator John Serra said. "They have plenty of crews out there handing them out."

But residents have been slow to contact Allied Waste, in part because they expected Red River to continue serving the community until the end of the month.

Wood suspects that some residents might also have trouble paying Allied Waste for three months of service at a time-at a cost of $82.42. Previously, Red River accepted payments for one month of service at a time.

Allied Waste will accept monthly payments, but for a $2.50 penalty.