Editorial & Privacy Standards
Texas Waste Freedom Project publishes government records about how Texas cities regulate solid waste. These are the rules we apply to every record, every time. We publish them so readers, city officials, and the companies we write about can hold us to a consistent standard.
We publish primary sources
Wherever possible we link the actual ordinance, contract, ledger, or correspondence — not a summary of it. Records are obtained through the Texas Public Information Act or from public city websites. When we quote a document, we reproduce the wording rather than paraphrasing it.
Every record carries a confidence label
Each city is labeled Confirmed by ordinance, Confirmed by contract, Reported by news, or Field report only. A first-hand account from an operator is never presented as a verified fact, and records we have not confirmed are marked as needing verification.
Public officials are named. Private individuals are not.
City employees, elected officials, and public agencies acting in their official capacity are identified by name and title — that is the substance of public accountability. Employees of private companies, private contractors, property owners, and residents are referenced by role only (for example, “a Waste Connections site manager” or “a local builder”), and their names are redacted from documents we host, even when those names appear in the public record we received.
We redact private contact information
Personal mobile numbers, home addresses, personal email addresses, and the identities of private parties being enforced against are removed from every document before we publish it. Official office lines and government email addresses remain. We scan each file after redaction to confirm nothing survived.
We withhold records we cannot publish responsibly
Some records we obtain are never published — enforcement correspondence tied to private residences, and threads whose private-party details cannot be cleanly removed. We would rather hold a document than expose someone who did not choose to be part of this.
Reporters stay anonymous by default
Operators, contractors, and customers who submit reports are kept anonymous unless they specifically tell us otherwise. We do not publish a submitter’s name, company, email, or phone number.
We describe, we do not accuse
Enforcing an exclusive municipal franchise is lawful. We report what ordinances require, what contracts say, and what records show — using “according to,” “the ordinance provides,” and “the lawsuit alleges.” We do not state that a city or company broke the law unless a court has so held.
We correct the record
When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so. If you are a city, a company, or an individual and something here is inaccurate or should be redacted, write to josh@americanafdumpsters.com and we will review it promptly.