PHARR – The city of Pharr began a major effort to clean up an old recycling yard inside a neighborhood on Medina Avenue.

The effort comes within weeks of a CHANNEL 5 NEWS report highlighting homeowner Maria Murillo, who said she's complained for years about health problems from the dust and debris blowing into her backyard.

Huge dump trucks started rolling into the old city recycling center Wednesday. The city’s new public works director said he took swift action after the complaint.

“We're also neighbors,” said Pharr Public Works Director Rick Pedraza. “The city of Pharr, even though it's the city of Pharr, we want to be good stewards to our citizens. We want to maintain a clean place; we want to maintain a healthy environment."

Pedraza said they can haul out about 50 truckloads of material each day. He said it will take about 200 truckloads to clear most of the site.

It costs the city about $85 for each truckload. The project was bid out per city guidelines.

Pedraza said they also finished a fence cover to protect homes.

He added one pile of materials will remain. Pedraza hopes to put a structure around it to protect homeowners.