The Center for Hard to Recycle Materials CHaRM — Local services in Atlanta

The concept is great and you’re able to recycle a lot of different types of items, especially styrofoam which I can’t recycle anywhere else around here.

However, the scheduling requirement is absolute nonsense. When we arrived, we were told we could not drop off our items without an appointment, even though there was NOBODY else at the center. Our items are presorted by plastic number and some styrofoam, so it would have taken about 3 min to drive around the different stations to drop them off.

It seems like the staff doesn’t really care about items being recycled and don’t mind people throwing stuff in the trash rather than make an effort to recycle. We had accumulated recycling over the last few months and combined driving trips to save time and fuel since this is 30 min from where we live. That didn’t matter one bit.

The staff has been pretty rude on a couple of occasions and once charged our credit card $20 instead of $2 for dropped off paint. It goes to a good cause, but still…

The concept is great. Execution, not so much. I guess styrofoam and plastics 3-5 are now going in my trash at home. At least a recycling center close to me takes metal and glass, they are much nicer and actually help visitors, are open 6 days a week, and don’t require any scheduling (because people are there 3-5 min tops unloading their cars. There is no need to schedule when visitors wait 2...

I booked an appointment and drove to CHARM today with miscellaneous things to recycle. They recommend that folks organize their drop-offs in the order of each station.

The styrofoam station attendants are super nice. Be sure to sort your food containers from regular packing styrofoam. Book donations are accepted at this station, too.

They accept fluorescent bulbs, not LEDs. They accept rechargeable batteries. They accept electronics and printer ink cartridges as well.

I forgot my cooking oil and grease today, but they do take that as well.

Next door is glass recycling, food-grade and flat.

Plasticville is impressive. I finally learned to sort my stretchy plastics from food-grade nonstretchy plastics. There are so many other plastics they take, so it will be a while for me to learn all the nuances. Just a note about recycling straws. They would like to have paper wrappers removed from new straws.

Also, recycle your milk cartons. You can leave the caps on them.

Such nice folks at CHARM....

Super awesome facility. Really picks up the slack when it comes to recycling in Atlanta. The city does an okay job, and their waste wizard is helpful, but CHaRM fills in most of the gaps. Things like plastic film, styrofoam, electronics, paint, mattresses, and glass that are typically difficult to recycle in the city are easily handled by CHaRM. The location on Hill St. has become increasingly better organized as the years have passed as well, making it super easy to handle a wide variety of recyclables. And if you have questions, the staff is nearly always super knowledgeable about what goes where.

It can be overwhelming the first time you go, but make sure to just separate the plastics by number, the soda cans from the soup cans, and the glass by color, and then just drive around the loop to get it all done.

My only complaint is that they no longer take waxed cartons, like ice cream cartons, milk cartons, cereal bags, and other waxy papers. I have to go with...