Recycling in a Tough Spot Right Now

by Peggy Berg

Recycling is a good idea, but it’s in a tough spot right now.

Oddly, recycling is one of the things that is negatively affected by the low price of oil.

Local glass companies are rejecting glass materials from the City’s recycling stream (our blue bins) because recycling glass is not currently profitable.

However, you can take your glass to be recycled at the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM), a city-supported recycling facility located at 1110 Hill St SE Atlanta, GA 30315. CHaRM accepts clean glass bottles and jars and is open:

•    Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
•    Saturdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

CHaRM is a permanent drop-off facility that aims to improve our environmental health by encouraging reuse and diverting thousands of pounds of household hazardous waste, bulky trash and other hard to recycle items from Metro-Atlanta landfills and water systems. A list of materials accepted is at www.livethrive.org/charm. CHaRM was created by legislation drafted by Council members Alex Wan and Carla Smith.

Curbside recycling is for household paper, cardboard, cans, and plastics numbered 1-7. Collection for your blue recycling bin is the same day as garbage collection – Monday for most of us.

All recyclables are placed together in the bin and are separated at the recycling processing facility. The only thing that should be bagged is shredded paper in a clear bag. All recycling must be clean and dry because, as you can imagine, separating shredded cans with sticky stuff still attached is a problem.

Here’s what you can put in your blue bin:

* Aluminum and Steel (Tin) Cans
* Brochures, Reams
* Cardboard Boxes- dry and broken down to fit into bin
* Cartons & Juice Boxes
* Envelopes: including windowed and labeled
* File Folders
* Glass Bottles: remove lids and place in recycling
* Greeting Cards
* Hard Plastic – Labeled 1-5, remove the tops and place in recycling
* Junk Mail
* Magazines
* Newspapers
* Office Paper – All Colors
* Paperboard, cereal boxes, etc.
* Phone Books
* Shipping Boxes
* Soft and Hard Back Books
* Wrapping Paper

The following items are recycling “NO’s.”  Putting them in your recycling bin makes it much more difficult and expensive for the City to run its recycling operation.

* NO paper towels or tissues
* NO plastic bags
* NO hoses or wire
* NO plastic pipe
* NO plastic furniture
* NO wood or building materials,
* NO food or sticky stuff.
* NO polystyrene

For recycling bins and service questions, please call 311.

Peggy Berg is a VHCA Board Member.