Fredericksburg's Recycling Center at 302 East Ufer Street is free to use and has become something of a model for small Texas cities — the city says it gets visitors from other towns wanting to copy it. Residents drive through and staff help unload, which makes it one of the easier drop-offs in the Hill Country.

There is no charge for anything dropped here. The trade-off is that this is not a single-stream facility and space is limited, so materials are only accepted if you have already separated them into categories before you arrive. Large containers are placed along the drive-through, each clearly marked. Cardboard must be broken down flat with nothing left inside, plastic bottles completely empty, and paper and cardboard neither wet nor soiled. A cardboard baler is available to commercial customers during regular business hours.

The centre takes corrugated cardboard and pressed chipboard such as cereal boxes and legal pad backings, aluminium and tin cans, mixed paper, and plastics. A dumpster for small yard waste sits at the centre for people who cannot drive out to the landfill — but it is meant only for dead plants, weeds, vines and similar small material. No brush, trash or plastic bags should go in it.

Brush is handled differently and, for most households, free. The city has prohibited yard waste from entering its landfill since a 1991 ordinance, and instead runs a kerbside chipper service: put tree limbs and brush at the kerb in front of your house and the chipper crew collects at least weekly. The resulting wood chips can be collected by anyone at the landfill at no charge, and grass clippings and garden waste can be added to the landfill compost pile free.

Hours are Monday to Wednesday and Friday 7:30am to 5:30pm, Saturday 8am to noon. The centre is closed all day Thursday for processing and closed Sunday. The Thursday closure is the one to watch.