Brownsville and Cameron County

Brownsville is our home city and the centre of the service area. At roughly 189,177 residents in 2024, projected to reach 192,044 in 2026, it is the eighteenth largest city in Texas, sitting at the southern tip of the state on the Mexico border where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf Coast. Median household income is $52,130 and median age is 31.2, and the population is 94 percent Hispanic, which is why every quote conversation here runs in English or Spanish, whichever you prefer.

Inside city limits, the City of Brownsville collects brush and bulky items from one of four sectors per week on a rotating monthly cycle through Republic Services, funded by your utility bill. Sector 3 is north of Boca Chica Boulevard and east of Paredes Line Road. Sector 4 is south of Boca Chica Boulevard and east of Expressway 77. Our city program guide covers the set-out rules and the full accepted and refused lists.

Communities we cover

Below is every community on our regular route, with the local rules and the job mix that actually applies in each one. Where a community has its own page, it is linked.

Southmost

Southmost sits at the far southern edge of Brownsville in the 78521 zip, next to the Los Tomates port of entry, with much of its housing stock dating to the 1960s and 1970s. Older homes at that age are in the replacement window for water heaters, ranges and central AC units, and the AC units in particular need certified refrigerant recovery before they can be disposed of. SpaceX is the area's largest employer, and the industrial and contractor activity around it generates a steady stream of construction debris work.

Cameron Park

Cameron Park is a census-designated place of roughly 12,456 residents and one of the largest colonias in Texas, sitting just outside Brownsville city limits. Being outside the city means the four-sector brush and bulky rotation does not apply. Cameron County runs mandatory solid waste service through Republic Services at $93.30 per quarter plus a $5 setup fee, with one 96-gallon cart placed within five feet of the mailbox by 6:30 a.m. That is cart service, not bulky collection, so oversized items need a hauler or a landfill run.

Historic Downtown Brownsville

Downtown holds the 1882 and 1914 Cameron County courthouses and the Cueto Building, with multiple structures on the National Register of Historic Places. Work here is mostly commercial: office clear-outs, retail fixture removal, and renovation debris from buildings being brought back into use. Older commercial buildings need care on access and on what comes out of them, particularly pre-1980 flooring and pipe insulation, which we set aside rather than load.

Rancho Viejo

Rancho Viejo is a town of 2,838 residents as of 2020, about four miles northwest of Brownsville on US-77 and 83. The housing is newer and larger than the city average, which shifts the job mix toward garage cleanouts, furniture upgrades, hot tub removals and seasonal yard work rather than end-of-life property clears. Its position on the highway makes it one of the quickest addresses on our route.

Los Fresnos

Los Fresnos grew from 5,542 to 8,114 residents between census counts, which is the growth profile that generates construction debris. New builds, remodels and fence work all produce sheet rock, lumber, shingles and offcuts, none of which municipal bulky programs in Cameron County will collect. Los Fresnos also sits on the route toward Port Isabel, so it pairs naturally with coastal work.

San Benito

San Benito is roughly 24,000 residents, 15 to 20 minutes north of Brownsville, and built around resacas, the old Rio Grande channels that thread through the city. Waterways running through neighbourhoods make documented disposal more than a formality here. Older housing stock also means a steady share of estate and downsizing clears. Full detail on our San Benito page.

Harlingen

Harlingen is about 71,000 residents, roughly 25 minutes up US 77 and 83, and it operates its own municipal transfer station. That gives Harlingen households a genuinely cheap self-haul option if they own a truck, and it moves the value of hiring toward labour, volume and refused-material categories rather than the trip itself. Remodel and rental turnover work dominates the mix.

Port Isabel

Port Isabel is about 5,000 residents, 25 to 30 minutes east on TX-48 and TX-100, and the mainland gateway to South Padre Island across the Queen Isabella Causeway. Salt air shortens the replacement cycle on appliances, fixtures and outdoor furniture, and rental turnover adds volume on top. Mattresses lead the job mix here by a wide margin, and storm exposure is the highest in our coverage.

McAllen

McAllen is roughly 142,000 residents, 55 to 60 minutes west, and the only city we cover that sits in Hidalgo County rather than Cameron County. That county line matters: the City of Brownsville four-sector rotation and the Cameron County cart arrangement both stop at it. We schedule McAllen work in grouped runs rather than same-day dispatch, which keeps whole-property and commercial jobs flat-priced.

Outside Brownsville city limits

Unincorporated Cameron County addresses are on a different system from city addresses. Cameron County runs mandatory solid waste service through Republic Services at a published $93.30 per quarter plus a $5 setup charge, with one 96-gallon cart placed within five feet of the mailbox by 6:30 a.m. on collection day. County solid waste is reachable at (956) 247-3535 and Republic at 1-800-423-7316.

That is cart service, not a brush and bulky rotation, which means unincorporated addresses generally have fewer free options for oversized material than city residents do. For colonias and rural addresses, a hauler or a self-haul run to the municipal landfill is usually the only route for anything larger than a cart.

Where loads go

The municipal landfill at 1001 E. Elizabeth Street, Brownsville, TX 78520 accepts construction and demolition debris and operates compost and scrap tire facilities on site. The Public Utilities Board states residents receive free disposal plus up to four tires per visit. Access requires a valid driver's licence establishing residency, or a valid commercial hauling permit under Chapter 82 of the city code for anyone hauling as a business.

Harlingen operates its own municipal transfer station, which is the nearer destination for loads originating in the north of the service area. Across the whole region, municipal solid waste transfer stations operate under Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rules at 30 TAC 330.3 with operating standards in Subchapter E, administered from the TCEQ Region 15 office in Harlingen.

What we do everywhere we work

Every service below is available at the same flat rates across the whole service area. Distance affects scheduling, not price, with the single exception that McAllen work is grouped rather than dispatched same-day.

Not sure if you are in range?

If you are in Cameron County or the eastern half of Hidalgo County, you almost certainly are. Send the address with your photos and you will get a straight answer along with the quote rather than a runaround. The quote form takes about thirty seconds, and if we are not the right fit we will say so and point you at the free route or a closer operator.

Where We Haul in the Rio Grande Valley