Separated Glass Collection Service Starts July 1
Good news! Decatur residents can continue to include glass in their curbside recycling services. Due to new rules set by recycling facilities, glass for recycling must be placed in a separate bin, that you provide. The bin should be 18 gal. or smaller, but any type or color is acceptable. Paper, plastics, and metal can still be mixed together and placed in a separate bin for collection. The annual sanitation fee for the new fiscal year increased from $250 to $275 to cover the cost for separated glass collection services. You will see an adjustment of $25 on your second property tax installment for this year.
Get more information at decaturga.com/recycling
Over the past few months, Decatur Public Works staff has explored recycling options and gathered feedback from the community. All options, including sending glass to the landfill, involved an increase in the cost for providing recycling. An online survey developed with the assistance of the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board collected more than 630 responses on this issue. More than 90% of respondents indicated they were willing to pay an additional $25 to $35 per year to continue curbside glass recycling services. And more than 76% of the respondents were willing to provide their own bins for separating glass to be recycled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do recycling facilities no longer want glass mixed in with other materials?
While a co-mingled recycling collection program provides many benefits, it has contributed to a system of poorly sorted recovered materials, with pieces of glass, plastic and metal being delivered in bales of fiber; the wrong types of fiber going to paper mills; and, plastics, glass, and other materials being delivered to incorrect product manufacturers.
Will the glass collected actually be recycled?
Yes. The glass collected from the separated residential curbside program will be sent to a recovery facility called Strategic Materials. They are a processor for recycled glass used in a wide array of products such as containers, fiberglass insulation, and countertops
I still have my old red glass-only recycling bin. Can I use that instead of getting a new bin?
Yes, we encourage you to use those bins if you have them. If you do not have a bin, you must provide your own separate bin to place at the curb on your regular collection day. The bin should be 18 gallons or smaller, but any type or color is acceptable.
How does this affect City of Decatur residents?
- Residents will need to place glass in a separate bin for curbside pickup on their regular collection days. These bins should be 18 gal. or smaller, but any type or color is acceptable.
- All other recyclable materials can continue to be placed together in a separate bin.
- The annual sanitation fee for the new fiscal year increased from $250 to $275 to cover the cost for separated glass collection services. Residents will see an adjustment of $25 on the second property tax installment bill sent later this year.
For More Information:
Visit decaturga.com/recycling for a complete list of the materials that are currently accepted. You may also call Decatur Public Works Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm, 404-377-5571.
Our glass has not been picked up. Yesterday, July 5, was pickup day for everything else because of the holiday schedule shift.
What happened with the glass recycling rollout?
We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you for reaching out. The quantity of glass from yesterday’s collection was more substantial than expected, and we are working to address any missed collections. As with any new program there will be a few issues in the beginning, but we are working hard to address them.
If your garbage, yard waste, or recycling collection is missed, please call Decatur Public Works at 404-377-5571.
We also want to let the community know that your co-mingled recycling and your glass may be picked up at different times of the day under this new program. You may notice that your regular recycling gets picked up before your glass. This does not necessarily indicate a missed pickup.
Thank you again. Please don’t hesitate to call us with any questions or concerns.
For the money we pay yearly in taxes for city services, it is astonishing to me that this is the first I’m reading about the fact that we now have to (re) separate glass. It was always that way for years, then the rules changed that it no longer had to be separated. Now, we separate again, for an increase of $25/yr in our city taxes. Why weren’t we informed about this? Last Monday was 4th of July, so naturally nothing was picked up. We had our garbage/recycling out on Tuesday the 5th. Garbage picked up. Neither of the recycling bins were. Wednesday, one of them were emptied, but not the other. I imagine it is because 2 glass bottles were in the mix. Major letters, emails, voice mails, etc… should have gone out to let us know about this. This system should be impeccable for the money we pay. You need to do better.
Timothy,
There have been notices. They appeared on this site on the city sites and and several other places that I’ve noticed including the web news sites. I know it’s easy to miss this kind of stuff and yes there should have been mailed notice or something left in our doors. This week may be better.
Bob
Hi Bob and Timothy,
We sent a direct mail postcard to all households in the City of Decatur using the Decatur Focus mailing list. Doesn’t sound like either one of you received the postcard. Please email me directly and let me know your address so I can make sure it is included in the Focus moving forward. My email is linda.harris@decaturga.com.
The glass recycling issue came up quickly and we had a short amount of time to respond. We posed the question in a poll on Open City Hall, posted it on the website and the blog, and sent it out to everyone on our e-news lists asking how the community wanted to respond. An overwhelming number of residents wanted to continue to recycle glass so we worked out a way to do that in conjunction with our current recycling vendor.
We are still working out the kinks and appreciate comments and suggestions for ways to improve.
Linda
Linda,
You know Bob Mabery and Mamie.
Five Renfroe Ct
Thanks for your reply