Doña Ana County, NM Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

The County's solid waste system runs through convenience stations rather than door-to-door recycling pickup. Article XVI of Chapter 179, adopted 5-25-2010 by Resolution No. 2010-50 and effective July 1, 2010, sets the fee schedule for these stations under § 179-43: a minimum charge of $4 for loads up to 200 pounds or half a cubic yard, $8 for full pickup-truck loads up to 400 pounds, and $12 for larger loads with side boards or trailers up to 600 pounds, plus an $8 surcharge for any load that isn't tarped or secured. Against that backdrop, the code carves out one express exception: clean green waste, single-stream recyclables, and household hazardous waste are accepted free of charge. Coupons and punch cards used to pay the disposal fees are sold at the County Utilities Department, 845 North Motel Boulevard, Las Cruces.

Chapter 287, Article I, Collection and Disposal, supplies the underlying framework. Section 287-4 lets any resident who isn't a commercial user bring solid waste, including recyclables, produced incidental to normal residential use of a single-family dwelling to a County convenience station; commercial users and private sanitation companies are barred from using them at all. Residents whose trash is already collected by a private hauler can still bring recyclables to a convenience station themselves. Under § 287-3, dumping recyclables or any other solid waste on streets, alleys, or in receptacles other than as this article provides is unlawful, and materials left at a County disposal facility become County property, so scavenging recyclables back out of a station bin is prohibited without the County Manager's approval.