Dallasites Might Keep Alley Trash Pickup, but It Might Cost Them More

Dallas City Council members will get an update on the sanitation department’s long-contested plan to move some customers away from alley collection at a briefing on Wednesday.

The city delayed plans to transition nearly 26,000 customers from alley to curbside service in October after public outcry and Council concern, marking the second time in as many years that such a proposal has been postponed in Dallas. A 2024 plan called for all 94,000 customers receiving alley pickup to switch to the curbside model.

Based on a presentation scheduled for Wednesday’s meeting, the plan’s aim may again shrink in scale. One option put forward by staff calls for less than 10,000 customers to transition to curbside service, while another suggests a “feasible, targeted transition” of less than 5,000 customers based on survey responses. A third option calls for no transition at all and further research.

“Staff will be prepared to answer the City Council’s questions on this work and the survey results,” Sanitation Director Cliff Gillespie said in a written statement.

The sweeping plan to transition around 26,000 customers in phases is still on the table, according to the presentation. It is important to note that Gillespie does not need Council approval to proceed with any potential change to service. However, survey data and Council feedback may push the department toward one of the updated proposals. 

Of 10,158 respondents to the sanitation survey that opened in October, 93% heavily favored continued alley collection. The survey had a response rate of 23%, with a total of close to 44,000 surveys mailed to affected addresses. Most surveyed households lived in blocks with alleys nine feet wide or less.

District 9 Council member Paula Blackmon said the original plan from October is unlikely to be the solution going forward.

“I think it [the transition] will move forward,” Blackmon said. “But if they’re listening to nuanced comments, I think it’s probably not going to be that [original] approach. It’ll probably be a different one.”

If the city moves forward with a newer option, staff have called for additional research and development to identify “novel service models, equipment or delivery methods” to minimize safety concerns for employees, which have been a major motivating factor cited by Gillespie and the department since 2024.

At a November meeting of the City Council’s Quality of Life committee, Gillespie said his department would evaluate “all potential operational models,” including the possibility of private providers, which Blackmon said she’s open to.

“If we cannot give them a product, then, yes, private is fine.” Blackmon, whose district has the second-highest number of customers receiving service in potentially affected alleys, said.

Potential Fee Increase

Any potential plan will come with fee increases for customers still receiving alley service, as the sanitation department plans to introduce a “tiered rate structure” for alley and curbside pickup in the next fiscal year, according to the presentation. Of those who responded to the survey, 60% favored paying more for continued alley service.

In a statement, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis said economic factors may leave other households concerned about higher bills.

“In other areas, and in light of some utilities outside of the city’s purview asking for rate increases, some residents may want the option of switching so they can manage household expenses,” Willis said in the statement. ‘This is one aspect of this decision that is personal and affects different households in different ways.”

District 13, which Willis represents, has the largest number (9,411) of residents living in alleys narrower than 9 feet wide.

Libby Collet, a District 13 resident who’s led the fight to keep trucks in alleys, says the costs will weigh on those living on fixed incomes. 

“We’ve got seniors, we’ve got a lot of people that that’s just an added expense that they’re not counting on,” Collet said. 

After the city announced in June that it was considering the hybrid plan, Collet launched a Change.org petition calling for Dallas to reconsider its position. It currently has over 12,000 signatures. 

The safety of workers and damage to equipment in poorly-maintained alleyways have been cited by city leaders as reasons to move away from alley collection. In addition, many alleys of potentially affected customers fall in the 8- to 9-foot range, which cannot accommodate newer equipment or automated side-loading trucks.

“Dallas’ waste collection fleet evolved over time as equipment manufacturers began building to those new specifications to allow for greater capacity and efficiency,” Gillespie wrote in an email to the Observer in September. “Many older alleys in Dallas are only 8-9 feet wide and weren’t built to accommodate modern equipment. These narrow spaces pose safety risks for workers and result in recurring damage to fences, utility poles, gas meters and collection vehicles.”

Collet said homeowners could have to spend substantial sums on renovations if their property is not properly configured for curbside service. 

“Now, the homeowners are having to fix the problem because the city has neglected the repair and maintenance of the alley, and they don’t want to get the right equipment to service their customers,” Collet said.

Sanitation staff will consider Council and customer feedback following the briefing, with outreach to begin in June. The updated plan will be implemented in February 2027.

Collet remains wary of plans to transition even a small number of customers.

“I think part of the strategy is to transition smaller groups first, or keep on doing those,” Collet said. “So to me, you take away that 5,000 or 10,000 — they’re still coming for the rest of us.”