McAllen's residential drop-off site at 4101 N. Bentsen Road exists specifically as an alternative to driving out to a landfill, and the city set it up to cut illegal dumping. At $21.82 per ton it is the cheapest published household disposal rate we have found anywhere in Texas — roughly half the statewide median for a per-ton gate rate. The figure is not a quote or an estimate: it is fixed in the city's own code at Chapter 90, Article III, Division 2, which directs the public works director to make a disposal drop-off site available to residential customers only and sets the fee at $21.82 per ton.
The residential-only restriction is enforced. Bring your city water bill when you come; the service is not open to businesses, contractors or people living outside the McAllen system. There is one carve-out for trade: commercial and for-profit landscaping businesses that provide lawn care or install and remove trees, shrubs, plants and gardens may drop brush at the city compost facility for $2.00 per cubic yard, or at the recycling centre for $3.00 per cubic yard.
Residents can bring tyres, metals, brush trimmings, old appliances and general household waste. The recycling side takes glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium and tin cans, and plastics numbered 1 and 2, along with used motor oil, electronics and plastic bags. Compost, compost blend, mulch, tree stump mulch and seasonal Christmas tree mulch are sold at the site.
One item is firmly excluded. The city no longer accepts construction debris at the drop-off, citing the weight of the material and the possibility of hazardous content within it. If you are clearing out after building work, this is not the site for it.
It trades weekdays from 8am until half past four, and Saturdays from 8am until midday, with Sunday closed. The site telephone is (956) 681-4050. Note that the drop-off is at 4101 N. Bentsen Road while the public works administrative office is a little further along at 4201 N. Bentsen Road — a difference of one digit that regularly sends people to the wrong gate.