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San Antonio Biohazard Cleanup
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Bexar County · sourced local information

Biohazard and crime scene cleanup in San Antonio, TX

After a death in San Antonio, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office deals with the person and the police release the property. The cleanup itself falls to the owner or the next of kin — here is what applies in Bexar County, with the sources.

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County
Bexar County
Residents
about 1.4 million
Services
6 covered

In San Antonio

What happens in San Antonio, specifically

Who releases the property, who to call, and what the housing here means for the work. Every figure below is sourced, and anything we could not verify is left out rather than guessed at.

Who releases the scene

In Bexar County the death is investigated by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The office sits inside the Bexar County Forensic Science Center on the UT Health San Antonio campus, and also serves several surrounding counties that do not have a medical examiner’s office of their own.

Examiner's office address
7337 Louis Pasteur Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229
Examiner's office phone
210-335-4000

The Bexar County morgue: address, hours and what it will not do →

Lobby hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, closed on county holidays. The county publishes no after-hours line on these pages, so an out-of-hours question goes to the police.

We have no published timing for this office. Ask it about your own case — a figure quoted for another county will not apply, and we would rather send you to the source than give you a number we cannot stand behind.

None of these offices clean the property. That is arranged by whoever owns it, or by the next of kin.

The non-emergency number in San Antonio

210-207-SAPD (210-207-7273)

For anything in progress, call 911. Police do not clean a scene once they have finished with it.

What San Antonio housing means for the work

Rented homes
47.8%
Median year, rentals
1988
Median year built
1985
Over-65s living alone
54,577

ACS 2020–2024 5-year, US Census Bureau. 42,134 renter households here are in buildings of 50 units or more. B25034 · B25035 · B25032 · B11007

What the city code says

The owner of the premises shall maintain the structure(s) and exterior property in compliance with these requirements … The interior of a structure and equipment therein shall be maintained in good repair, structurally sound and in a sanitary condition.

Enforced by the Development Services Department; report through 3-1-1 or 210-207-6000.

San Antonio Property Maintenance Code § 301.2 and § 305.1 →

San Antonio is a house city where Houston and Austin are apartment cities. Only 42,134 renter households here live in buildings of 50 units or more, against 180,410 in Houston, and under half of occupied homes are rented at all. Most work here is a single-family home with a driveway and no building manager to negotiate with.

San Antonio has the highest share of one-person households over 65 of the cities on this network: 54,577 households are a person aged 65 or over living alone — 9.8% of every household in the city. That is the situation most often discovered days later by a relative or a landlord.

The city will not take the material for you. San Antonio’s bulky-waste drop-offs specifically refuse mattresses with blood stains and soiled cushions, and the household hazardous waste site on Culebra Road refuses medical waste outright. So contaminated material leaves with a contractor in practice, even though Texas waste law does not require a household to use one.

San Antonio’s Property Maintenance Code § 301.2 puts maintenance of the structure and the exterior property on the owner, and § 305.1 reaches interior sanitary condition — which is the part that bears on a unit rather than a yard.

Where household waste can go — and where this cannot

The published unaccepted list is “Ammunition or fireworks, Commercial or medical waste, Medicine, Trash” — medical waste is refused.

Facility
San Antonio Household Hazardous Waste facility
Address
7030 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238
Hours
Tuesday to Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

A recent CPS Energy bill showing the environmental fee and a photo ID are required. The city’s bulky-waste drop-offs publish their own refusal list, which names mattresses with blood stains and soiled couch cushions — see the bulky drop-off page.

Texas excludes household waste from the medical-waste rules, so a family clearing a home is not breaking them. That is a point about waste law, not about safety: blood and body fluids carry bloodborne pathogens, they soak into materials that look dry, and this is work for someone with protective equipment and training. The drop-offs refuse the material anyway, so ask any contractor where it goes; one holding a medical-waste transporter registration under 30 TAC 326.53 has a lawful route into disposal. Check a company in the TCEQ registry

How San Antonio names its areas

The city publishes 322 registered neighborhood and homeowner associations. The city keeps a public registry of homeowner and neighborhood associations and updates it monthly.

Alta VistaBeacon Hill AreaDignowity HillDenver HeightsGovernment Hill AllianceHarvard Place EastlawnCollins GardenGardendaleHarlandale-McCollumDellview AreaCulebra ParkCollege Park

Full list from the city →

If this followed a crime in San Antonio

These offices help victims and families directly, and none of them will try to sell you anything.

  • San Antonio Police Department — Victim Advocacy Office 210-207-2141 Monday to Friday, 7:45 a.m. – 5:45 p.m.

The Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation Program pays up to $2,250 toward crime-scene cleanup for crimes after July 14, 2016, and it pays last — after any homeowners’ or renters’ insurance. It applies to violent crime, not to an unattended natural death, and it does not cover structural repairs. Claims run within 3 years of the crime, unless good cause can be shown for the delay. Program rules What it excludes Eligibility and deadline

Sources for San Antonio

Other kinds of job in San Antonio

Ranges are what national vendors advertise, not quotes — where the numbers come from.

San Antonio, TX

What property owners in San Antonio need to know

What to ask a company about San Antonio specifically

  • Ask where the material will actually go. The San Antonio Household Hazardous Waste facility refuses it, so a contractor has to haul it — ask where it goes, and whether it leaves under a TCEQ medical-waste transporter registration you can look up.
  • Ask whether they will document the work in a way that answers a code-compliance notice under San Antonio Property Maintenance Code § 301.2 and § 305.1, in case one arrives. A property left untouched in San Antonio becomes a code-compliance matter, not just a private one.
  • Ask who they will deal with at the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, and whether they will wait for the property to be released before anyone enters.

The questions that apply to any company anywhere in Texas — insurance, bloodborne-pathogens training, the waste route, a written scope — are in one place: what to check before you hire.

County
Bexar County

San Antonio & Hill Country

Residents
about 1.4 million

San Antonio, TX

Services covered
6

Biohazard, crime scene, death, hoarding, odor

Cost to you
Free

We are paid by providers, not by families

Providers serving San Antonio

No company has finished our checks in San Antonio yet, so there is nothing here we would stand behind. We would rather show you that than a list we cannot vouch for.

Call (866) 697-0754 or leave your number. We will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do for it. The checks a company has to pass are published in full.

Elsewhere in Texas

Other Texas cities we cover

San Antonio is the only city we cover in this part of the state so far. These are the others, each with its own county offices, release process and sources.

Houston Harris County Dallas Dallas County Austin Travis County Fort Worth Tarrant County Arlington Tarrant County Garland Dallas County

See every Texas city we cover

Worth reading

Before you call anyone in San Antonio

Who cleans up after a death in Texas?

Why it falls to the property owner or the next of kin.

Read it

Who releases a death scene in Texas, and when you can go back in

Which office does what, county by county, and what none of them will do.

Read it

What crime scene cleanup costs in Texas

What drives the price, and what insurance and compensation cover.

Read it

Help & advice

Biohazard cleanup in San Antonio: common questions

Who investigates a death at home in San Antonio?

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, on 210-335-4000. It examines and releases the person; it does not clean the property, and neither does the police department or the fire service. That falls to the property owner or the next of kin.

How long does it take in San Antonio?

It depends on the case, and the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office is the only place that can tell you about yours. The office is on 210-335-4000. A figure quoted for another county will not apply to it.

What do I call in San Antonio if it is not an emergency?

210-207-SAPD (210-207-7273). Anything in progress is still 911.

Can I take the material to a San Antonio drop-off myself?

No. The published unaccepted list is “Ammunition or fireworks, Commercial or medical waste, Medicine, Trash” — medical waste is refused. Texas waste law does not stop a household clearing its own home, but with the San Antonio drop-off closed to it, the material leaves with a contractor — so ask the contractor where it goes before anything is agreed.

It happened in a rented home in San Antonio. Who pays?

47.8% of occupied homes in San Antonio are rented, so this comes up often. Start with the lease and both insurers; the statewide rules on repairs, belongings and the deposit are in our guide to a death in a Texas rental.

Is there help with the cost after a crime?

After a violent crime, the state Crime Victims’ Compensation Program pays up to $2,250 toward cleanup — after your insurance, never for repairs, and not after a natural death. In San Antonio, San Antonio Police Department — Victim Advocacy Office on 210-207-2141 can help with the claim.

You don't have to handle this alone.

Call or leave your number about a property in San Antonio. We will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do for it.

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Last reviewed 2026-09-25

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