El Paso is adding a new Citizen Collection Station and Country Store in the Northeast, giving residents another place to drop bulky junk and pick up free secondhand furniture in the same trip. The facility includes a waste drop-off station and a Country Store, a program that has quietly been handing out free couches, toys and doors to anyone who walks in.
Where Exactly Is the New Station?
The Northeast Citizen Collection Station is listed at 4501 Hondo Pass Dr. in El Paso.
The new site features a redesigned waste drop-off station built to make disposing of heavy or bulky junk and yard trimmings easier, as noted in the city's Facebook announcement and according to KFOX14/CBS4. It joins a network described by the El Paso Environmental Services Department, which notes that El Paso residents, not commercial businesses or contractors, can take trash, household hazardous waste and bulky items to one of five public drop-off locations citywide. The department's guidance also states that the stations function as additional drop-off sites for recyclables, supplementing the city's curbside recycling program.
Free Furniture and Toys Up for Grabs
The new location is home to the city's newest Country Store, which accepts donations of gently used furniture, toys and other household items and then offers them back to residents at no cost. KFOX14/CBS4 reported in August 2025 that shoppers at existing Country Store locations can find everything from crutches and toys to doors and couches, all available for free. KFOX14/CBS4 reported that the program's warehouses contain refurbished items.
The store is open to both paying and nonpaying customers. The same KFOX14/CBS4 report quoted a city representative saying the store is open to everybody, whether a paying customer or a nonpaying one. The Environmental Services Department has framed the broader Citizen Collection Station initiative as an effort to reduce landfill waste as El Paso continues to grow, according to that same KFOX14/CBS4 account, which also noted the stations have been used for added recycling services like electronics and seasonal cooking-oil recycling during the holidays.
Rules for Dropping Off Waste
Not everything can be hauled to a Citizen Collection Station. The Environmental Services Department's guidance specifically excludes construction and demolition material from acceptance. Visitors are limited to a maximum of four station visits per month, and the department requires anyone entering to present a current water bill along with identification matching the address on that bill.
Existing Citizen Collection Stations are open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, per the Environmental Services Department's posted hours.
A Pattern Dating Back Years
This is not El Paso's first new collection station. KFOX14/CBS4 reported that the Environmental Services Department broke ground on a Citizen Collection Station in North El Paso, a project built on 3.7 acres that also included a Country Store for gently used items. That earlier facility was designed to accept yard waste, recyclables, bulky items, scrap tires, electrical equipment and household products labeled corrosive, flammable or toxic, with 18 roll-off dumpsters set beside a raised platform to make dumping easier, the station reported at the time. The 2021 project carried an estimated cost of roughly $2.2 million and was expected to be finished by fall 2022, according to KFOX14/CBS4's coverage.
