The Southwest Neighborhood Depository sits at 10785 Southwest Freeway, and of the city's six residential drop-off centres it is the one most people reach by motorway rather than by neighbourhood street. It is run directly by the Houston Solid Waste Management Department and costs residents nothing.

Start with what you are driving, because this is where loads get turned back. Pickups are fine. So are small trailers, but only up to ten feet long with sideboards no higher than four feet. The city refuses U-Hauls, box trucks, Sprinter vans, contractor vans, dump trailers, propane trucks, and any trailer whose inner compartment runs past ten feet. It also refuses a vehicle that is towing a loaded trailer while carrying a load in the truck bed itself — one or the other, not both.

Gate times are Tuesday to Saturday, nine in the morning until six in the evening. Monday and Sunday it is shut. Aim to arrive by half past five, since the department asks for thirty minutes to unload.

Four visits a month per household is the allowance, roughly one a week.

Bringing bulk or tree waste means showing a current Texas ID together with a Houston-issued utility bill or a lease, the addresses on both matching. Recycling alone needs only the ID.

Contractor-type material — sheetrock, tile, lumber, carpet, flooring, plywood — is capped at four cubic yards, about eight contractor bags. Loose shingles and leaves must be bagged. Limbs thicker than nine inches are refused.

Worth noting: the city's page lists concrete under accepted bulk items and again under non-accepted items. Ring 311 before hauling rubble here.