The Abilene Landfill and Dump Guide

The City of Abilene Does Not Run a Public Dump

That is the part nobody says out loud, and it is why searching for the Abilene city dump sends people in circles. The city’s own landfill page lists two facilities and states plainly that both are privately owned and operated. The city does not set their hours or rates, and does not publish them. It tells residents to contact those facilities directly.

What the city does run is the Environmental Recycling Center at 2209 Oak Street and the Brush Center at 2149 Sandy Street. Between those two and the cart at your curb, most household waste already has a home. The trick is knowing which pile goes where.

What you have, and where it goes

The Environmental Recycling Center at 2209 Oak Street

This is the site that catches most of what the trash cart refuses. The address is 2209 Oak Street, Abilene, TX 79602, and the city lists hours of Tuesday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm and Saturday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, closed Sunday and Monday, excluding city approved holidays. Read those twice: shut Monday, and Saturday ends at noon. It is also residents only, with no commercial drop offs.

What it takes

• Aluminum cans and bi-metal cans
• Cardboard
• Scrap metal
• Appliances, including units that contain refrigerant
• Tires, within the limits below

The appliance line is the useful one. A dead refrigerator is what people assume they will pay someone to take.

What it does not take

• Concrete
• Glass
• Paper
• Plastics
• Brush and yard waste
• Furniture
• Wood products

Glass, paper and plastics not being on that list is the opposite of what the word recycling leads people to expect. Brush and yard waste are refused here because they have their own facility across town.

Tires have their own rules

Tires are accepted, but not for free and not at any size. The city lists passenger tires at $2 each and truck tires at $5 each. Tires larger than 24.5 inches cannot be accepted, and rims are not accepted, only the tires themselves. Pull them off before you load, not after you arrive.

Household hazardous waste

The same site takes chemicals that should never go in a cart or down a drain. Accepted: acids, aerosol cans, antifreeze, batteries, used oil, fertilizers, pesticides, paints, pool chemicals and solvents.

The refused list matters more, because getting it wrong is a real problem. Ammunition is not accepted, and neither are unlabeled containers, pressurized gas cylinders, radioactive materials, or business and industrial waste. Containers larger than one gallon need arrangements with the collection manager first. The unlabeled rule catches households often: the half full jug nobody can identify is exactly what staff cannot take.

Two other things run at the same site: a Recycling Re-Store, which reissues paint and chemicals free, and a Teacher Recycle Locker of craft supplies.

Your Cart, and the Things It Will Not Take

Residential collection uses 95 to 96 gallon carts, emptied twice a week, either Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. Homes on alley collection share 300 gallon containers, also emptied twice weekly. That covers ordinary trash with no thought required.

The thought is required for everything else. The regular and bulky services do not take tires, paint, batteries or chemicals, which all belong at 2209 Oak Street. They also refuse construction debris, cement blocks and furniture. And tree limbs may not go in the regular trash container at all, however short you cut them.

That is why people go looking for a dump. A remodel produces construction debris, a house clear out produces furniture, and neither has a city route.

Brush and Bulky Pickup Only Happens in Odd Numbered Months

This is the most misunderstood part of the system, and it explains the piles that sit at Abilene curbs for weeks. Curbside brush and bulky pickup happens once a month, and only in odd numbered months: January, March, May, July, September and November. Alley collection gets it about three times a year. A limb pile set out in April is not waiting for a late truck, it is waiting for May.

The pile has a hard limit of 8 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet, and limbs have to be cut to 4 foot lengths. That is smaller than it sounds once branches tangle, and one medium tree trimmed hard blows past it. There are timing rules too: do not set material out more than 48 hours before a curbside pickup, or 10 days before an alley pickup.

If the pile is over the limit, or the month is even, the Brush Center at 2149 Sandy Street takes residential limbs and leaves directly, with its own size limits and proof of residency rules. Our tree debris disposal page covers that facility in full.

The Two Landfills North of Abilene on FM 3034

These are the facilities people picture when they type Abilene landfill into a search box. The city lists two, both north of Abilene on FM 3034.

• Abilene Regional Landfill, privately owned and operated by Republic Services.
• Abilene Environmental Landfill, privately owned and operated.

Private ownership is the whole story. The city publishes no hours or rates for either, because the operators set them. It is also why the answers online are so often stale: no city page keeps them current.

Before you load a trailer, contact the operator and confirm three things: whether they are open when you plan to arrive, what they charge, and whether they take that material at all. A load turned away at a private gate comes home with you.

When the Load Will Not Fit in a Car

Tree work is where the routing stops being the problem and the physics starts. Brush does not stack, it tangles and springs back, so a truck bed that looks full holds a fraction of what it could. And the 4 foot cutting rule means every branch meets a saw before it meets your back.

Then there is the material with no easy route at all. A trunk section is past the Brush Center limits, a root ball is not accepted, and a stump cannot be lifted at all. Grinding is the only answer there, and the stump grinding page covers it.

Here is the one commercial line. On a tree removal the debris question never becomes yours: brush is chipped on site, trunk wood is taken away, and the yard is raked clean before the crew leaves. Haul away is in the quote, not added to it. The services page lays out what each job covers.

Storm Weeks Change Everything

After a serious wind or hail event the ordinary schedule stops describing reality. Half the city has a pile at the curb in the same week, and the odd month cycle was not built for that. Whether the city adjusts anything after a particular storm is the city’s call, so check what it is doing before you plan around the normal schedule.

Two things before you touch anything. Photograph the damage, because an insurer will want pictures taken before cleanup started. And stay away from anything touching a power line until the utility clears it. The storm cleanup page covers the order this work happens in.

A Short Checklist Before You Load

• Sort the pile first. A mixed load gets turned away as one load.
• Check the day. The Recycling Center is closed Sunday and Monday, and Saturday ends at noon.
• Check the month. Brush and bulky curbside pickup runs in odd numbered months only.
• Measure the pile. 8 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet, limbs cut to 4 foot lengths.
• Confirm current hours, rates and rules with the City of Abilene, or with the operator at a landfill.
• Count the trips. Two is a morning. Five is a weekend.

We work Abilene and the towns around it, listed on the service areas page. If the pile in your yard has already beaten these rules, send a photo through the form above or the contact page.