Abilene's Environmental Recycling Center on Oak Street is the city's recycling hub, and it is strictly a residents' facility - no commercial drop-offs are accepted at all.

Tuesday to Friday the centre runs 8am to 4pm, Saturday mornings 8am to noon, and it stays closed Sunday and Monday as well as on city-approved holidays. General recycling is free: aluminum cans, bi-metal cans, cardboard, scrap metal, and appliances including those containing refrigerant gases. Note what is missing from that list - concrete, glass, paper and plastics are not taken here. Brush and yard waste go to the Abilene Brush Center; furniture, wood products and fencing go to the Citizens Convenience Center.

Tires are the one charged item. Passenger tires cost $2 each and truck tires $5 each. Anything larger than 24.5 inches cannot be accepted, and tires must be off the rim - rims themselves are refused.

The site also runs Abilene's household hazardous waste collection, taking acids and drain cleaners, aerosol cans, antifreeze, brake and transmission fluid, automotive and rechargeable batteries, do-it-yourself oil and oil filters, fertilizers and pesticides, hobby supplies, paints, poisons, pool chemicals, and solvents and degreasers. It will not take ammunition, unlabelled containers, biologically active substances, containers over one gallon, pressurized gas cylinders, products containing dioxins or 2-4-5T, radioactive material, or anything generated by a business.

Two extras are worth knowing about. The Recycling Re-Store puts sound, clearly labelled household chemicals back on a shelf for anyone to collect free of charge - call (325) 676-6053. The Teacher Recycle Locker gathers cardboard tubes, clean jars and large coffee cans for classroom craft use. Cardboard collection containers have moved to the Barrow Street Neighborhood Recycling Center at 900 Barrow Street. General enquiries: (325) 672-2209.