Fort Worth's Environmental Collection Center on Bridge Street is where the things that must not go in a wheelie bin end up — paint, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals, motor oil, antifreeze, car batteries, fluorescent tubes. Drop-off costs nothing. The catch is not price but eligibility and timing.

It opens three days a week only: Thursday and Friday from eleven in the morning until seven at night, and Saturday from nine until three. Shut the rest of the week. It sits just east of downtown with easy access off I-30 and Loop 820. The information line is 817-392-1234.

You must prove where you live with a current water bill or a valid driving licence. Fort Worth residents can simply turn up. Residents of the many surrounding cities that buy into the programme may also use it, but a number of those councils require their people to collect a voucher first — check with your own city hall before loading the boot, because turning up without one wastes the trip. Under state rules the centre cannot take waste from a business, an industrial site or a commercial operation of any kind.

There are quantity ceilings per visit, and they differ by category rather than being one blanket figure: ten gallons of automotive fluids, ten gallons of cleaning chemicals, ten gallons of cooking oil, twenty gallons of lawn, garden and pool chemicals, twenty light bulbs, and thirty gallons of paint and painting supplies. Leave everything in its original labelled container rather than a bin bag, double-bag anything leaking, stow it in the boot or the truck bed, and stay in the vehicle while staff unload. There is also a Help-Yourself Shelf where usable paint and cleaners are given away free.