Travis County tree debris dropoff hours decrease

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Two Travis County tree debris dropoff locations have decreased their hours due to decreasing demand.

The dropoff locations at Mansfield Dam Park and Northeast Metropolitan Park will change from being open every day to only being open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Both locations will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on those days and will only accept tree limbs, branches, shrubs and leaves. Household trash, appliances, metal or other non-vegetative debris will not be accepted.

Mansfield Dam Park is located at 4370 Mansfield Dam Park Rd. Austin, TX 78732. Northeast Metropolitan Park is at 15500 Sun Light Near Way, Pflugerville, TX 78660.  

Travis County residents can also use Austin Water’s Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant at 2210 FM 973 Austin, TX 78725 to dispose of their storm debris. 

An estimated 10.5 million trees in Austin were damaged as a result of this month’s ice storm — impacting 30% of the city’s total tree canopy coverage, according to experts with the Texas A&M Forest Service.

The City of Austin said Monday it could take until the end of April to clear all the debris left behind by the ice storm.

For residents in Travis County’s unincorporated areas who are unable to bring their debris to dropoff sites, the County’s Transportation and Natural Resources (TNR) Department is working on bringing on contractors to help with curbside debris pickup.

The pickup schedule isn’t available yet, but these unincorporated area residents are asked to go ahead and cut their debris into four-to-five-foot pieces and place them by their curb. 

Other storm debris cleanup information, including information about privately-run debris dropoff locations that may charge a fee, is available on the Travis County Office of Emergency Management’s winter storm recovery page.

Residents can access the page easily by visiting https://oem.traviscountytx.gov/ and clicking on the red banner that says “Winter Storm Mara Recovery 2023.”