The City of Round Rock's Recycling Center on Deepwood Drive, just west of Round Rock High School, handles the material that will not fit in a curbside cart - and since the move to on-site household hazardous waste collection, it handles chemicals too.

Opening runs 9:30am to 6pm Monday through Saturday, with the site closed on Sundays and city holidays. Standard recycling costs nothing and no longer needs sorting: paper, plastics #1 through #7, glass and aluminum go in together. The centre also takes scrap metal and non-Freon appliances such as stoves, washers, dryers, dishwashers, microwaves and hot water heaters, cardboard and paperboard, expanded polystyrene packaging, rechargeable batteries, fluorescent bulbs, propane and helium tanks, and automotive fluids including antifreeze, brake and transmission fluid, car batteries, oil filters, and up to five gallons each of motor oil and gasoline in an approved container.

Household hazardous waste is the part with a price attached. Drop-off runs Tuesday to Saturday between noon and 4pm, capped at 25 gallons per household per month. It is free for City of Round Rock water customers and for voucher holders from Brushy Creek MUD and Fern Bluff MUD; everyone else pays $60 per vehicle, by card or check only - no cash is taken. Bring a driver's license and either a recent city water bill or your MUD voucher.

Freon appliances, televisions, water softeners, tires, non-rechargeable alkaline batteries, printer cartridges, broken or window glass and commercial waste are all refused. On the hazardous waste side, ammunition, explosives, gas cylinders, medical waste, sharps and containers larger than five gallons are refused as well.

Worth knowing before you buy: the Re-USE building on site gives away paint, fertilizer, pool chemicals, cleaning products and automotive fluids at no cost, subject to a signed waiver. Phone 512-218-5554.