One thing to get straight before you set off: despite the name, the City of Eagle Pass Type IV landfill is not in Eagle Pass. The city gives the site address as 123 State Highway 131, Quemado, Texas 78877, and the gate telephone is 830-773-9408. Opening is Monday to Friday eight until four and Saturday eight until noon, though the city warns the site may shut early once the daily cap is reached.

That cap is real. This is a Type IV permit, which means construction and demolition material, brush, yard waste and bulky goods only, capped at twenty tons across the whole site per day. Household rubbish and hazardous waste do not belong here.

For residents the first ton is free. Show a Texas driving licence or state identification card together with an Eagle Pass Water Works bill carrying the same address, and a car, pickup or trailer load up to a ton costs nothing. Past that the rate is $24 a ton, or $8 a cubic yard. Anyone who cannot prove city residency pays that same $24 a ton from the first pound.

Commercial haulers are priced by where the waste came from. Material generated inside Maverick County is $25 a ton or $8 a cubic yard; anything from outside the county, or merchandise that state rules require to be destroyed, is $50 a ton or $16.67 a cubic yard. There is a special case worth knowing: if a contractor hauls a household's waste and the resident actually travels with them or meets them at the gate with proof of residency, the first ton or three cubic yards costs just $2. On site, everyone stays within ten feet of their vehicle, children and pets stay inside it, and salvaging is forbidden.