If you’ve ever had a workday that felt like a real dumpster fire, wait until you hear what happened on a City of Victoria Solid Waste route.

The driver had just dumped a trash cart when something flammable in the trash suddenly ignited, causing the whole load to catch fire. The quick-thinking driver took the load to an empty parking lot and dumped it, and the Victoria Fire Department extinguished the blaze. Thankfully, no one was harmed, and the truck was not seriously damaged.

We encourage residents to help make our drivers’ lives less exciting by safely disposing of flammable materials and other hazards. The City’s Household Hazardous Waste collection service offers pickups of dozens of items that don’t belong in the trash, including:

• Aerosols
• Butane lighters
• Car batteries
• Latex paints
• Old TVs and computer monitors
• Poisons
• Sharps (must be placed in rigid plastic containers)
• Used motor oil

To schedule a pickup, call 1-800-449-7587 or use the Victoria Texas 311 app. This service is free to all Solid Waste customers and can be used as many times as you need it. (Please note that this program does not accept medications for disposal.)

Hot coals are another overlooked fire hazard. Even if the fire has gone out, be sure to douse smoldering coals thoroughly before you throw them away. See how the firefighters are drenching the pile of burned trash? That’s what you should be doing to hot coals to make sure they don’t catch fire again.

If you’ve still got burning questions about how to dispose of your trash, remember to use our online Waste Wizard tool at www.victoriatx.gov/wastewizard. Simply type in your item, and the Waste Wizard will tell you how to get rid of it. The Waste Wizard even has information about non-City waste disposal resources, such as propane tank recycling.

The database includes more than 200 searchable terms, but if your search doesn’t bring up any results, you can use the “suggest” feature to request a new entry.

When in doubt, it’s better to check the Waste Wizard—you don’t want to be the cause of our next dumpster fire!

Sam Hankins is the communications specialist for the City of Victoria.