Texas City, TX Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 53.22 of the Texas City Code of Ordinances is short and specific: commercial customers who recycle all or portions of their solid waste may contract their recycling service with the city's exclusive franchise hauler or any other recycling service company. That choice is a deliberate exception. Under § 53.15, every business, commercial or institutional property, and other property not entitled to residential garbage collection must contract for commercial garbage collection and disposal through the city's exclusive franchise hauler, and § 53.17 sends dumpster customers to the same hauler. Recycling is the one commercial waste stream where the property owner is free to shop for a provider.

The section governs commercial customers only. This section does not create a residential recycling mandate or a recycling container requirement, and it sets no percentage, material list or reporting duty. What the chapter does give residents is a place to take material: § 53.02 defines a recycling dropoff center as a temporary or permanent location within the city established for receipt of recyclable solid waste, with the Director of Sanitation determining the types and amounts accepted, and § 53.11(E) says rimless tires can be taken to the city's recycling center at no charge.

Commercial customers who generate hazardous, toxic or special wastes are in a separate box: under § 53.23 they must comply with federal and state laws, regulations and rules for collection and disposal, and that disposal is outside the scope of the city's exclusive franchise agreement.