The single most important fact about the Athens Community Collection Station is the calendar: it opens on Saturdays only, 8.30am to 3.30pm, and it closes on holiday weekends. Miss it and you wait a week. It sits at 500 Aaron Street and is restricted to City of Athens residents, and the gate check is two documents: photo driving licence plus an Athens water bill in date.

It takes general garbage refuse, brush, and - importantly - glass recycling, which the kerbside recycling cart will not accept. What it will not take under any circumstances is construction debris. Anything from a renovation or a demolition belongs elsewhere entirely.

We have not printed a fee. The city publishes the collection station's charges in a separate leaflet, in English and Spanish, rather than on the web page itself, and we will not guess at figures we cannot read off a live page. Ring City Hall on 903-675-5131, or Republic Services on 903-677-1276, and ask before you load.

If you live outside the city limits, this station is not for you - Henderson County runs its own network of solid waste convenience stations on a separate fee schedule, and that is where county residents should go.

Worth knowing before you make the trip at all: Athens households already get a good deal at the kerb. Bagged leaves and brush are collected weekly, on Wednesdays west of Highway 19 and Thursdays to the east, up to ten bags of leaves per residence per week. Brush for kerbside must be bundled, no more than three inches thick and four feet long - the same specification the station applies. An additional refuse cart costs $2 a month. Between the weekly brush round and a second cart, most households only need Aaron Street for glass and the occasional bulky item.