Travis County runs one citizens collection station, on Woodall Drive off FM 1431 in the north of the county, and it is the only county-operated site for ordinary household rubbish. The county's own page gives the address as Cedar Park while its Christmas tree listing for the same site says Leander; either postcode search will find it at 2625 Woodall Drive, 78613. The number is (512) 998-3781.

Opening is limited and catches people out: 8:00am to 3:50pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday only, with the gate shut Sunday through Wednesday. Turning up on a Monday is the single commonest wasted trip here.

The charge is $4.33 a cubic yard including tax, which the county describes as roughly a pickup bed. That is a flat rate with no resident and non-resident split. Payment is cash or cheque only — credit and debit cards are not accepted at all, so bring notes or a chequebook.

What the station takes is narrower than the name suggests. It is household trash only. The county specifically excludes business and commercial waste, household hazardous waste, recycling, appliances, large furniture, mattresses, tyres, and organic waste including animal carcasses and brush or woody debris. If your load is a mattress, a fridge or a trailer of brush, this is not the site, and the county points people to its online drop-off locator to find one that is.

Two other Travis County options sit alongside it. Household hazardous waste goes to the City of Austin Recycle and Reuse Drop-off Center at 2514 Business Center Drive, free to city and county residents for up to 30 gallons, with anything beyond that charged at cost. And between 26 December and 11 January the county takes natural Christmas trees free of charge at five sites including this one, 7:00am to 3:30pm, provided all decorations, stands, nails and netting are removed and any tree over six feet is cut in half.