'Shouldn't be like this': NE Houston residents left with piling trash when pickup stops for 2 weeks

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Residents in a northeast Houston neighborhood said they had to call, file 311 reports, and flag down garbage trucks to have their trash picked up. Their trash service was a week late, and their recycling was overdue.

Amberly Jones said the longer the trash sat out, the fewer people could enjoy their yards or walks in the neighborhood.

"Maggots, the smell, it's like rotten eggs; the dogs were in the neighbor's garbage cans," Jones said.

Jones and her neighbors were annoyed after Houston Solid Waste missed last Thursday's trash pick-up and were mad again after it missed their neighborhood for a second week.

"This is the first time that it lasted this long from not picking up the regular trash that we had to walk down the street and find someone else's trash can to empty to put trash in the trash bag," neighbor Regina Gill said.

For more than a week now, Jones and Gill said they have called the city but that their complaints were never escalated. They put in 311 requests, but said they would be marked as complete even though no garbage truck ever came.

"We shouldn't have to live like this. We pay our taxes just like everyone else," Jones said.

Finally, on Friday, Jones told the city she would call ABC13, and shortly after, a truck was spotted getting the trash.

Jones said she never got a good explanation over the phone about why this was happening. She spoke with ABC13 reporter Lileana Pearson; some speculated this could be attributed to a staffing shortage or a recent hiring freeze.

According to a report commissioned by the city and released in late 2024, 447 people are working in solid waste, and 48 positions are vacant.

Earlier this year, the Mayor of Houston did issue a near city-wide hiring freeze to help alleviate city financial woes, the Mayor's office confirming Friday.

"The hiring freeze has been lifted for departments with approved reorganization and efficiency plans that address the span of control concerns identified in the Citywide Efficiency Study. These departments are authorized by the Administration to begin filling vacancies. Departments still under the hiring freeze have been permitted to post critical positions where vacancies would significantly impact city services."

The Mayor's Office told ABC13 that Solid Waste, HR, the Administration, the Regulatory Affairs Office, the Park Department, the Housing and Community Development Department, the Health Department, Houston Public Works, and the Controller's Office are all approved to hire.

ABC13 contacted Solid Waste, asking for more information about the missed trash service on Linares Drive. They acknowledged our request, but then we never heard back.

Friday afternoon, a solid waste team member stopped by the neighborhood. The team members said they couldn't talk to ABC13, but Jones said she was told the person who typically does their trash route just got back from an extended leave and that someone would talk to them about the missed route.

"It's not acceptable cause you jump five streets down, and the trash was picked up," Jones said.

ABC13 looked at the data, and we found that in the past four weeks, missed trash service was the second most common complaint to 311, with 2,628 complaints. There have been 8,598 complaints in the last month, and 33,425 complaints in the last year.

"We don't want our trash out here sitting out front," Gill said.

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