The Home Chemical Collection Center, or HC3, is at 11234 Plano Road about a mile north of the LBJ Freeway, on the east side of the road just past the railway tracks. It is easy to spot - a white building with bright turquoise trim. Although our listing name records it under the City of Dallas, the programme is run by Dallas County and a number of surrounding cities buy into it.
The opening pattern is unusual and worth writing down: Tuesday 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is shut every Friday, Sunday and Monday. Friday closure surprises almost everyone.
Dallas residents use it free of charge, as do residents of the other participating Dallas County cities. Bring a driving licence and a utility bill confirming your current address. Anyone from a city that does not take part in the programme faces a minimum waste management fee of $95.00, so if you are outside Dallas it is worth ringing your own city first, or calling the centre on (214) 553-1765.
This is where the material the transfer stations refuse should go. It takes paint, pesticides and garden chemicals, pool chemicals, motor oil and other car fluids, household cleaners, glues and hobby products, fluorescent tubes and batteries. Small electronics are welcome too, including laptops, desktop computers, printers and mobile phones.
It is not a general dump. Ordinary rubbish and kerbside recyclables are refused, as is anything from a business. Radioactive material, explosives, ammunition and bio-medical waste are all excluded outright; for those, ring the centre before doing anything else.