Local disposal options
Collection-station access and accepted items vary. Check these details before loading your vehicle, and confirm current rules with the facility.
Saturdays only, 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., excluding holiday weekends. Open to City of Athens residents only, and residential use only — commercial dumping is not permitted.
Bring with you
- A valid driver's license
- A current City of Athens water bill
The water bill requirement is the one that catches people. If you live at the lake, in an unincorporated community, or anywhere outside the city limits, this station is not available to you at all.
Accepted
- Household garbage refuse
- Brush and limbs
- Glass recycling
Refused
- Appliances containing Freon
- Hazardous waste
- Construction debris
- Waste oil and fluids
- Asphalt shingles
- Tires
- Dirt
- Batteries
Source: City of Athens published collection-station rules, checked August 2026. Rules change — confirm before you drive.
The county's precinct collection stations serve the areas outside Athens. They refuse certain items, including those listed here.
Call your precinct to confirm current hours, fees and accepted items before making the trip.
Refused at county stations
- Anything containing Freon — refrigerators, freezers, window air conditioners
- Tires
- Household hazardous waste
- Contractor shingles
Federal Clean Air Act §608 requires refrigerant to be recovered with certified equipment before an appliance is scrapped. That is why the stations turn refrigerators away — it is not arbitrary.
Refrigerators, freezers, window air conditioners and dehumidifiers may contain refrigerant. Confirm the disposal process with a facility that accepts them.
We do not haul tires, and it is worth saying why rather than just listing it as excluded. Transporting scrap tires in Texas requires registration with the TCEQ — manifests for every load, an annual report, and the registration number displayed on the vehicle.
Anyone offering to take tires off your hands without that registration is creating a problem that lands on the property owner. The stations will not take them either. A registered scrap tire facility is the answer.
On the refusal list?
That is the list we exist for. Call (903) 275-0638 and it goes.