Recycle Your Christmas Tree 
When making plans for a live Christmas tree, please consider the official “Bring One for the Chipper” event on Saturday, Jan. 2. Residents can drop off live Christmas trees at the Christmas Tree Recycling Center in the Agnes Scott parking lot. The entrance is between 184 and 206 S. Candler St.
The recycling center will be open Monday, Dec. 28, through Saturday, Jan. 2.
Please do not leave trees anywhere else on the Agnes Scott campus.
Recycling
New Updates! Recycling Map (PDF)
Drop-off locations and pick-up services in or near the City of Decatur, updated and produced by the Waste Management Advisory Board.
Remember that your recycling must go into the green bin or 95 gallon cart supplied by the City of Decatur via the contract with Latham Home Sanitation. The 18 gallon bins are free and will be delivered to your door. If you prefer, you can purchase a 95 gallon wheeled cart from Latham Home Sanitation for $68.00 which would hold more recyclables and easier to roll to the curb for collection. If you have any questions, please call the Sanitation Department, 404-377-5571 . If you need a bin or would like to order a 95 gallon cart, please call Latham Home Sanitation, 678-858-5407 .
Electronics Recycling
Twice a year, in October and March, the city holds an Electronics Recycling Day. This semi-annual event has been dramatically successful in diverting electronic equipment from landfills, where they may contaminate soil and water.
>Click for more information.
Update from the Waste Management Advisory Board and Latham Home Sanitation (August 2008):
In 2002 new red recycling bins were introduced into the Decatur Recycling Program to separate glass commodities from all other recycling. Now, now thanks to improvements in recycling sorting technologies, glass no longer has to be sorted separately from the other commodities.
For more information on Decatur's recycling program, please feel free to call the Public Works Department, 404-377-5571 .
Remember to recycle:
- Metal coffee cans
- Tin cans (vegetable, soup, beans, cat food, etc.)
- Glass bottles – any color
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Junk mail and catalogs
- White milk jugs
- Clear and green plastic soda and water bottles
- Chipboard (cereal boxes, six pack containers, shoe boxes, etc.)
- All Plastics labeled with a recycling logo and any Number 1 through 7
- All HDPE or No. 1 plastic containers, including black planting trays and black plastic flower pots, bleach bottles, yellow plastic milk cartons, etc.
Remember for your garbage (food or anything with food or chemicals on it cannot be recycled):
- Pizza boxes
- Paper milk cartons
For a complete list of recyclable items, click here to view the Recycling User Guide (Open with Acrobat Reader). Info courtesy of Latham Home Sanitation, Inc. and the City of Decatur.
Christmas Tree Recycling
When choosing a live Christmas tree, include plans to dispose of it at the Christmas Tree Recycling Center in the Agnes Scott College parking lot after the holidays. The entrance is between 184 and 206 South Candler Street.
Please do not leave Christmas trees anywhere on the Agnes Scott Campus. The Christmas Tree Recycling Center is open for approximately two weeks after Christmas.
Everybody Recycles!
City Commission Approves Multi-Family Recycling
by Steve Denton
The Decatur City Commission has approved an amendment to the solid waste ordinance to provide better accessibility for recycling for multi-family residents of the city. The ordinance affects approximately 2,600 multi-family dwelling units within the city limits.
The ordinance reduces the waste that ends up in landfills, provides another portion of our population with access to recycling services, and reduces the multi-family properties’ costs for garbage disposal.
Multi-family properties are not required to use the City of Decatur Solid Waste service and can contract with third party collection companies. Therefore, these residents did not necessarily receive the same recycling services as single-family dwellings. The purpose of the amendment is to provide residents living in multi-family dwelling properties similar recycling services to those living in single-family homes.
Multi-family properties are sometimes only equipped with a common dumpster for waste collection without any recycling services. Residents either collect their own recycling and deposit it at a remote location or throw recyclable items in with everyday trash. With the new amendment, multi-family property owners and condominium associations must provide recycling services to their residents that include at least four materials to recycle such as paper, glass, metal, and plastic.
The owners and associations provide quarterly reports of the items recycled and their quantities to the city. The ordinance was written by the Waste Management Advisory Board in cooperation with the Public Works department.
Residents of Decatur apartments and condominiums, such as 335 Ponce de Leon, the Clairemont, and the Artisan, can now participate in the city’s recycling program.
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