Field notes / Waco
Trash, brush and bulky pickup in the towns around Waco
Cross a city limit here and the rules change completely: a different contractor, a different collection day, a different brush limit and a different phone number. Almost nothing the big city publishes applies at your curb, and the free landfill drops you may have heard about are not yours.
The mistake this page exists to stop: assuming the big city's solid waste rules travel with you. Each surrounding town signs its own contract with its own hauler, and the free one-ton landfill drops require a City of Waco utility bill, which a town resident does not have.
Five towns, four haulers, five sets of rules
Addresses here sit inside small incorporated towns with their own councils, their own ordinances and their own waste contracts. The practical consequence is that two neighbors a mile apart can face different brush limits, different collection days and a different company answering the phone.
Everything below was read off each town's own page on October 18, 2026. Where a town publishes no figure, this guide prints none rather than borrow one from another town, so a blank line means a fact that town does not publish.
| Town | Contracted hauler | Trash collection | Brush and bulky route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hewitt | Republic Services | Once a week, recycling every two weeks | Monthly drop-off day, or a curbside large item booked with the hauler |
| Woodway | Frontier Waste Solutions | Twice a week | Brush on your second trash day; two large item days a year |
| Robinson | Waste Management | Once a week, recycling every other week | Curbside every week up to 3 cubic yards, plus a monthly day for a fee |
| Bellmead | Frontier Waste Solutions, exclusive franchise | Twice a week on two routes | Every Wednesday, booked two business days ahead |
| McGregor | City drop-off site | Not published on the page read for this guide | First Saturday of the month at 301 N. 1st Street |
Hewitt: a monthly gate, and a hauler for the big item
The sanitation and recycling page describes a cart program with trash collected once a week and recycling every two weeks, and asks residents to roll the cart to the curb by 7 a.m. with the handles facing the house so the lid opens toward the street.
Placement is specified to the foot: within two feet of the edge of the street, clear of parked cars and boats, and far enough from the mailbox that the carrier can deliver without interference. The page also puts a weight limit on the container itself, saying the cart is designed to hold a maximum of 50 pounds, and bars concrete, large amounts of dirt, heavy waste, hot ashes, paints and hazardous liquids from it.
Bagged household trash and yard waste both belong in that cart. For the loads it cannot hold, the town runs its own gate: a drop-off on the third Saturday of every month at 1301 S. Hewitt from 8 a.m. until noon, for large amounts of brush or large items, where each person has to produce a current town water bill and a driver's license showing that address.
A curbside collection of a single large item is a separate arrangement, and it is not booked with the city. The page tells residents to call Republic Services on 1-800-860-0123, extension 23008, and gives the same main number for a roll-off container. Additional carts are arranged with the Utility Department on (254) 666-3151, at an extra monthly charge for each one.
The holiday rule is unusually generous. The page states that the contractor observes only three holidays, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day, and that trash is picked up on all other holidays with no change to the schedule for those weeks.
Woodway: brush rides on your second trash day
The trash page names Frontier Waste Solutions as the contractor for residential trash, recycling and brush as well as commercial hand pickup, dumpsters and roll-offs, with the Utility Billing Department inside City Hall acting as liaison with the disposal company.
Two details surprise newcomers. The city does not supply bins, and residents buy their own at a hardware store with no requirement on size or shape beyond having a lid. Collection then runs twice a week, either Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday depending on the address, and brush goes out on the second of those two days.
The brush rule is an ordinance rather than a guideline, and the page quotes it. Section 7-4 requires bundles or disposable containers with no outside dimension over four feet, brush cut to lengths not exceeding four feet, trimmed and stacked at the curb or alley no higher than three feet with the larger ends toward the street, all vines and thorny bushes placed in disposable containers, and no bundle, container or item weighing over fifty pounds.
There is also a quantity ceiling written into the contract rather than the ordinance: the page warns that an excess of three to five bundles may result in delayed or skipped disposal of brush and yard waste.
Large items get two free days a year, scheduled with the contractor and falling on your second trash day. The 2026 dates published on the page are April 23 or 24 and October 22 or 23, with a request to limit the number of items put out. Televisions and tires must go to the landfill instead, and a refrigerator has to be tagged by a licensed professional before it will be taken from the curb. An additional large item pickup costs $85.05 and is arranged with Customer Service on 254.772.4480.
Robinson: a weekly bulk route, priced on the bill
The solid waste service page sets out a Waste Management contract in which each customer gets weekly collection in a 96-gallon polycart, recycling every other week, a weekly curbside bulk and brush collection, and an at-your-door hazardous waste special collection.
This is the only town of the five whose page prints the whole monthly bill in parts: $23.41 an account for the collection services, $1.33 for the hazardous waste collection and $2.72 as a franchising and billing fee, totaling $27.46 an account a month, with an additional 96-gallon polycart at $8.57 a month.
The weekly bulk route has a published ceiling of three cubic yards at the curb on your regular trash day. The bulk and brush page lists carpeting cut into four-foot bundles, household furniture and appliances with CFCs removed as bulk waste, and requires that branches and tree trimmings be no greater than four inches in diameter and be cut, tied and bundled in lengths of four feet or less, with grass clippings and trimmings placed in a disposable bag.
Its exclusion list is the most explicit in the area: appliances still containing CFCs, batteries, concrete, brick, asphalt and roofing, construction debris from a contractor, gasoline, items heavier than 200 pounds, paint, motor oil and filters, tires, and vehicles or parts. When the weekly route is not enough, the monthly bulk and brush day is offered to residential customers for a $10 fee per trip.
Holidays shift the whole week rather than one day. The page observes New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, and says that when one falls on a route day collection runs the following day and then runs late for the rest of the week into Saturday. Residential questions go to the Utilities Department on (254) 662-1415.
Bellmead: one franchise, and a Monday deadline
The waste collection page is blunt about the market: Frontier Waste Solutions holds an exclusive franchise for all waste services inside the city limits, and other waste providers are prohibited from servicing there. Hiring an outside company for a routine collection is not an option a resident has.
Residential service is a 95-gallon roll-out can emptied twice a week on two routes, one running Monday and Thursday and the other Tuesday and Friday. Carts belong at the curb no later than 7 a.m., facing the street with the wheels against the curb, four feet clear of mailboxes, cars and other carts, under 170 pounds, with the lid closed, and a household may have at most three.
Brush and bulky waste run on a single weekday with a booking deadline. The page sets collection for every Wednesday, requires the request two business days ahead, which it spells out as Monday by 3 p.m., and gives 888-854-2905, an online form and the contractor's app as the ways to book.
The limits are a weekly volume and a per-item pair: bulky and brush cannot exceed four cubic yards a week, and all brush should be bundled with each item under four feet in length and under fifty pounds. Anything beyond that can be hauled for an additional approved charge, and the page tells residents to call the contractor for a quote. A roll-off container for a remodel or demolition is a separate call, on 254-221-0705.
The cart refusal list covers construction and demolition waste, auto waste or parts, dirt, concrete, rock or gravel, dead animals over ten pounds, hazardous waste, and waste that is loose, overloaded or not placed at the curb. Service pauses on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and resumes the next business day on a one-day slide for the rest of the week, and utility service questions go to 254-799-2436.
McGregor: a city gate rather than a contractor
Further out, the arrangement is different again. The recycling and bulk trash page runs a bulk trash gate on the first Saturday of the month from 8 a.m. to noon at 301 N. 1st Street, next to the Police Station, and states that it is residential only with no contractor trash.
Recycling at the same address is a weekly window rather than a cart, open every Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for cardboard and plastic. The page also publishes an annual Trash-Off event, dated April 18, 2026 from 8 a.m. to noon, and asks residents to bring a current water bill as proof of residency.
For that event the city names what it will and will not take. Bulk furniture, appliances, building materials and residential tires with no rims are accepted, with no business tire drop-off, while chemicals, air conditioning units, paint and motor oil are not.
Brush limits, side by side
Brush is where the towns differ most, and where a resident who moved across a city line gets caught. One town measures the limb, another measures the bundle, a third measures the stack height and a fourth caps the cubic yards.
| Town | Thickness or length limit | Volume or weight limit |
|---|---|---|
| Robinson | Branches no greater than 4 inches in diameter, cut, tied and bundled in lengths of 4 feet or less | 3 cubic yards at the curb; nothing heavier than 200 pounds |
| Woodway | Brush cut to lengths not exceeding 4 feet and stacked no higher than 3 feet | No bundle over 50 pounds; beyond 3 to 5 bundles may be delayed or skipped |
| Bellmead | Bundled, each item under 4 feet in length | 4 cubic yards a week; each item under 50 pounds |
| Hewitt | No thickness limit published for the monthly drop-off | Cart designed to hold a maximum of 50 pounds |
| City of Waco | No limbs larger than 3 inches in diameter | Pile limited to 4'x4'x4' |
Read the whole row rather than the number that suits you. A four-inch branch is collectable at the curb in one of these towns and over the limit in another, and a pile that satisfies a diameter rule can still be refused for height, weight or bundle count.
What a town resident meets at the big city's gates
The scale house asks which county an address is in before it asks anything else. The Landfill & Transfer Station page publishes one per-ton rate for McLennan County residents and a higher one for everyone else, which is the first figure a suburb household should check before loading a trailer.
| At the gate | What the City publishes |
|---|---|
| Municipal solid waste, McLennan County residents | $52.00 per ton |
| Municipal solid waste, others | $75.00 per ton |
| Construction and demolition waste | $75.00 per ton |
| Minimum fee | $20.00, charged to all users |
| The four free one-ton drops | Require a Waco utility bill showing residential trash service, plus photo ID |
| Cobbs resident allowance | Requires a Waco water bill within 30 days of its due date and a matching photo ID |
| Brush, yard waste and concrete | Landfill only; not accepted at the transfer station |
The free drops are the trap. Both the facility page and the Cobbs Recycling Center page tie the no-charge resident allowances to a City of Waco utility bill with residential trash service on it, so a household that pays its town for collection pays at the gate from the first pound. The county rate still applies, and the minimum fee is the floor on a small load.
One more restriction follows a yard load out of any of these towns: brush, yard waste and concrete are not accepted at the transfer station, so a trailer of limbs goes to the landfill at 4730 TK Parkway in Axtell. Our self-haul guide covers the paperwork and the gate hours, and the brush and yard waste guide covers the big city's own curbside limits.
The hazardous waste day the towns share
None of these towns runs its own chemical collection, and one of them publishes the shared answer. The Woodway trash page says the city coordinates with the City of Waco and other surrounding cities for an annual Household Hazardous Waste Day in the spring, typically the third Saturday of March, held at the Waco Solid Waste Operations Center, 501 Schroeder Drive, and it dates the 2026 event to May 16, 2026 with 254.299.2612 for current information.
Robinson's contract includes an at-your-door hazardous waste special collection as part of its monthly charge, which is a genuinely different model from a once-a-year event. If paint, pesticide or pool chemicals are the reason you are reading this, the town you live in decides which of those two routes you have.
If your town is not on this page
Several smaller communities, and unincorporated county addresses, publish no solid waste page this guide could read on October 18, 2026. Rather than guess at their rules, ask three questions at the city or county office: who holds the collection contract, which day brush and bulky items are taken, and what the limit is per visit.
Two facts hold regardless of the answer. A McLennan County address gets the lower per-ton rate at the big city's landfill, and no City of Waco utility bill means no free drops. Plan the load around the gate rather than around a neighbor's collection day.
Choosing a route for the load you actually have
For a normal week, the town's own service is the cheapest thing available and it is already on the bill. For a one-off clearance, the choice is between the town's booked bulky route, a drive to Axtell, a roll-off from the franchised hauler and a private crew that does the lifting.
What no public route includes is labor. A monthly gate day, a Wednesday bulky collection and a weekly three-cubic-yard allowance all assume somebody carries the load to the curb or the trailer. This site is an independent local referral service, so describe the job on the quote form and a local pro gets back to you to confirm scope, access and price, and the pricing guide keeps public charges and private planning ranges apart.
Official sources
- City of Hewitt, sanitation and recycling: cart rules and weight, the third Saturday drop-off at 1301 S. Hewitt, the hauler's large item line and the three observed holidays.
- City of Woodway, trash: the contractor, twice-weekly collection, ordinance section 7-4, the bundle ceiling, the 2026 large item days, the $85.05 extra service and the hazardous waste day.
- City of Robinson, solid waste service and bulk and brush curbside collection: the rate breakdown, the three cubic yard limit, the four-inch branch rule and the exclusion list.
- City of Robinson, bulk and brush day: the monthly residential day and its $10 fee per trip.
- City of Bellmead, waste collection: the exclusive franchise, the two routes, the Wednesday brush and bulky service with its Monday deadline, the four cubic yard limit and the cart rules.
- City of McGregor, recycling and bulk trash: the first Saturday bulk gate, the Wednesday recycling window and the 2026 Trash-Off with its accepted and unaccepted items.
- City of Waco, Landfill & Transfer Station, Cobbs Recycling Center and Utility Rates: the county and non-county per-ton rates, the minimum fee, the proof the free allowances need and the transfer station's refusal of brush.
Sources checked October 18, 2026, one town page at a time. Contracts, days and limits change at renewal; confirm with your own city before booking.
Before you decide
Questions worth asking
Who collects the trash in Hewitt?
The city's page names Republic Services as its sanitation and recycling contractor, with trash once a week and recycling every two weeks. A curbside large item is booked with the hauler on 1-800-860-0123, extension 23008.
When is brush and bulky pickup in Bellmead?
Every Wednesday, but only if it is booked. The city requires the request two business days ahead, which it states as Monday by 3 p.m., through 888-854-2905, the online form or the contractor's app, and caps it at four cubic yards a week.
How long can a brush bundle be in Woodway?
The ordinance quoted on the city's trash page requires brush cut to lengths not exceeding four feet, stacked no higher than three feet with the larger ends toward the curb, and no bundle over fifty pounds.
Does Robinson charge extra for bulk pickup?
The weekly curbside bulk and brush collection up to three cubic yards is part of the $27.46 a month the city publishes. The separate monthly bulk and brush day costs $10 per trip for residential customers.
Can a resident of a town near Waco use the free landfill drops?
No. The City of Waco ties its four free one-ton drops, and the Cobbs allowance, to a Waco utility bill showing residential trash service. A McLennan County resident still pays the lower county rate of $52.00 a ton at the landfill, with a $20.00 minimum fee.