There are two Kendall County facilities a few hundred yards apart on Spanish Pass, and knowing which one you want saves a wasted journey. Number 44 is the recycling centre, and it is free to every Kendall County resident. Number 46 is the solid waste site, where household rubbish is taken and where everything carries a price.

The recycling side has narrowed sharply. It now takes three streams only: rinsed aluminium cans, clean foil pans and foil; clean steel and tin cans, with labels allowed to stay on; and flattened cardboard up to a maximum dimension of three feet, which covers moving and shipping cartons, cereal boxes, brown grocery bags and paper feed sacks. Plastic, glass and paper — newsprint, magazines, packing paper — are all listed as not accepted at this time, whatever older guides say.

At the solid waste site next door the pricing is per item. Small trash bags up to 17 gallons are $2.00 and large ones from 18 to 50 gallons are $3.00. A curbside-style container of 50 to 96 gallons costs $10.00. Mattresses, box springs and overstuffed chairs are $15.00 each, an 8x10 carpet $15.00 with larger ones from $25.00, a sofa $25.00, and a pickup truck load starts at $30.00. Metal items are separately priced: batteries $3.00, microwaves $7.00, most white goods and mowers $10.00, and a 30 or 40 gallon water heater $15.00.

By state law that site takes household waste only. Contractor and commercial loads are excluded, and the county spells out what that means: building materials and shingles, timber and siding, fence panels, paint tins, gas bottles, tyres, concrete, soil and rock. Nothing holding a refrigerant is taken either. Both sites work Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 9am to 4:30pm. The Comfort station at 28 FM473 opens only on the second and fourth Saturday of the month, 8am to 4pm. The county publishes no payment method; ring (830) 537-4542 first.