About DES

The City-Parish Department of Environmental Services (DES) serves as one of the largest agencies within City-Parish government and is tasked with overseeing the delivery of some of the most critical and visible public services provided to Baton Rouge residents – from garbage and recycling collection to management of the East Baton Rouge Parish wastewater system. These are all services that were once provided by the Department of Public Works but were since reorganized into DES as a standalone department through the voter-approved 2014 Department of Public Works reorganization effort.

In addition to the services delivered by its dedicated workforce and the hundreds of employees who comprise it, DES is responsible for managing the continued implementation and completion of the Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Program – one of the largest capital programs in East Baton Rouge – as well as monitoring the daily activities of the City-Parish’s solid waste contractors, which collectively operate under contracts in excess of $30 million annually for the delivery of such services to residents.

For more information on DES, contact the DES Director’s Office at (225) 389-4865. Or, if you need to report an issue or request service for non-emergency issues involving sewer, garbage, or recycling incidents, please call 311 or visit the Red Stick 311 website.