Dallas Sanitation officials recently announced the City will move to end alley garbage pickup for more than 20,000 customers in 2026. If neighbors are unsure where their alley stands in the change, there is an interactive map showing affected neighborhoods.
Some alleys present dangers, with overhanging power lines and rutted pavement. Photo by Carol Toler.
On July 3, Dallas Sanitation Services director Cliff Gillespie told The Dallas Morning News that around 26,000 homes would be transitioned from alley to curb pickup. A similar effort in 2024 was stymied by considerable public outcry. The new plan was developed in response to those concerns. Most neighbors will be transitioned on Jan. 19, 2026, with the remainder to switch over in July. In total, 95,000 households currently utilize alley garbage pickup in the City of Dallas.
Alley pickup customers slated to move to curbside pickup in January mostly live in neighborhoods with 8-9 feet wide alleys and where the vast majority of homes have front driveways. Customers with dead-end alleys that spanning than 200 feet or semi-paved and unpaved alleys will also make the transition in January. Areas with smaller proportions of front driveways will make the jump on July 20.
The sanitation department’s website has an interactive map of affected areas and can be found here. In Lake Highlands, virtually the entirety of the L Streets will move to curb pickup in January, as will a small section of Highland Meadows. In July, smaller portions of neighborhoods closer to Lake Highlands Elementary and LHMS will make the transition.
“Our sanitation department took our concerns seriously this past year — listening to residents and working through logistics,” District 10 Council Member Kathy Stewart recently told the Advocate. “They’ve developed a plan that minimizes the impact to our community — and I am grateful.”
Alleys in the L Streets are narrow, often falling in the 8-9 feet wide range the department has set out to avoid, in addition to prevailing overhead wiring.
“We see routine equipment damage that is running in 8- and 9-foot alleys, contact with fences, utility poles, overhead wires. More troubling are the worker injuries and near-misses for electrocution and fires,” Gillespie told city council.
More widespread changes will come to the Preston Hollow and Midway Hollow neighborhoods, with the map showing large portions of the area between Marsh Lane and Hillcrest Road moving to curb pickup.
The move is primarily motivated by safety concerns for sanitation workers and the ongoing shift to automated trucks, which the department’s FAQ page describes as “the industry standard for safety and efficiency.” Alley pickups are typically serviced by rear-loading trucks manned by three-person crews, which the website says are “labor-intensive and costly.
One of the primary concerns raised by L Streets neighbors and residents across the city last year was the impact the plan woud have on elderly residents who would have to drag their garbage carts to the front of their home for collection. To respond to the concerns, the department is encouraging those without an able-bodied person in their household to sign up for the Helping Hands Program.
The program sends sanitation workers to assist neighbors during garbage collection. Residents can sign up online or call 3-1-1 to enroll.
Dallas Sanitation has also proposed an adjustment in the sanitation fee structure to account for the change. While the City currently charges a flat fee for residential pickup, the proposal recommends the adoption of a tiered fee structure that charges remaining alley pickup customers more than those with curbside pickup. The proposal will need to be approved by council, unlike the upcoming service transition, which is at Gillespie’s discretion.
According to the department’s website, a public awareness campaign will notify neighbors of the change and provide guidance on new pickup procedures.
