Texas Pure Products at 9901 Custer Road, on the corner of Ridgeview in Plano, is the retail and grind end of the composting partnership between the North Texas Municipal Water District and five member cities. It is not a transfer station and it will not take household rubbish. What it takes is green material: grass, leaves, branches and the sort of load a weekend of pruning generates.

Households in the five member cities — Allen, Frisco, Plano, Richardson and McKinney — get two free drop-offs every calendar month here. Past those two, the tipping rate is $22 per cubic yard with a $66 minimum. The allowance resets on the first of the month and nothing carries forward. Everyone else — residents of other towns, tree trimmers, arborists, landscapers and lawn services — pays $22 per cubic yard, $66 minimum, on every single visit.

Proof matters more here than at most sites. Staff want a current city water bill from one of the five member cities together with matching photo identification, and the page says plainly that there are no exceptions. Turn up without both and you pay the commercial rate.

The gate is staffed six days a week, Monday to Saturday, from 8am until 4:30pm, and cash, cheque, debit and the major credit cards are all taken. One warning worth carrying: the site's own frequently-asked-questions page still quotes an older $20 per cubic yard and $60 minimum. The yard waste disposal page carries the current figures and is the one we have used.