The Hal Flanders Recycling Center at 305 Cemetery Road is the City of Alpine's drop-off site for recycling and for the household material that will not go in a kerbside bin — tree limbs and yard waste, electronics, bulk items and scrap metal. It is run by the city's Environmental Services department, reachable on (432) 294-3183.
The centre operates Wednesday through Saturday, 9:00am to 4:50pm, and is closed the rest of the week. It shuts for city holidays and occasionally for weather, and the department posts short-notice closures rather than publishing an exception calendar, so a quick call before a long drive is sensible.
Access rules have tightened, and this is the part worth knowing before you load up. After a three-month notice period the city updated its requirements for free disposal: residents must now present a current City of Alpine water or sanitation bill before disposing of residential waste items, tree limbs, yard waste, electronics and bulk items included. Older city wording described the centre as serving City of Alpine and Brewster County residents on production of a utility bill or other proof of residence. The newer notice is the one to work to, and a Brewster County resident with no city utility account should ring first rather than assume.
Recycling itself is straightforward. Mixed paper, newspaper and plastics are single-streamed into one compactor, and the centre also takes glass, aluminium and tin cans, cardboard and rechargeable batteries. Tumbled glass is given away, handed out by the recycling technicians for safety reasons and limited to one bucket per person because demand outstrips supply.
Two things are not free. Tyre recycling is charged per tyre, rims removed, and runs by appointment only on weekday mornings — ring Environmental Services to book a slot and confirm the current price. Household hazardous waste is not accepted at all. The city also warns that putting electronics, bulk items, brush or tree limbs in or beside a city dumpster counts as illegal dumping and carries a fine of up to $4,000 per occurrence.