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External Website
www.acc-recycle.org

Administration &
Customer Service

706-613-3501
706-613-3504 [Fax]

  Litter Hotline
706-613-3506

Recycling Division
706-613-3512

Hours
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Solid Waste Director
Jim Corley

Administrative Location
725 Hancock Industrial Way
(as of Jan. 8, 2010)
Location Map

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 1868
Athens, GA 30603

triangleNew! The Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department will be closed on Mon., Sept. 6, 2010 for the Labor Day holiday. Residents and businesses whose garbage and recycling is collected by the ACC Solid Waste Department will have changes to their normal collection schedule.

  • DOWNTOWN DISTRICT commercial curbside garbage and recycling services will be collected as regularly scheduled.
  • RESIDENTIAL garbage and recycling normally collected on Mon., Sept. 6 will be collected on Tues., Sept. 7.
  • COMMERCIAL curbside and dumpster garbage and recycling services normally collected on Mon., Sept. 6 will be collected on Tues., Sept. 7.
  • LANDFILL will be closed on Mon., Sept. 6 and will resume its regular operating schedule of 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Tues., Sept. 7.
  • LEAF AND LIMB service will be suspended on Mon., Sept. 6. Collections will resume the following day.

triangle New! The annual shredding event will take place in the Georgia Square Mall front parking lot on Sat., Sept. 11, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. - Noon.

Residents and small businesses from around the region can shred personal documents for FREE. There is a two-box maximum; boxes must be totable.

The Lindsay Group, an agent of Mayflower Transit, will provide secure destruction of confidential and sensitive materials with their mobile shredding unit. Documents are destroyed on-site and certificates of destruction are available upon request. The ACC Recycling Division will then recycle the shreds. The ACC Recycling Division, Georgia Square Mall, Keep Madison County Beautiful, and The Lindsay Group sponsor this event.

For additional information about the Lindsay Group, visit www.thelindsaygroup.net or call (706) 549-8902. For additional event information, contact the ACC Recycling Division at (706) 613-3512 or visit www.acc-recycle.org (under Events/Holiday Calendar).

triangle New! Record number of schools earn Green School status.

Fourteen schools participated in the Athens-Clarke County-sponsored Green School Program and achieved Green School status through their dedication to environmental awareness.

The awarded schools were: Athens Montessori, Barnett Shoals Elementary, Barrow Elementary, Chase Street Elementary, Cleveland Road Elementary, Coile Middle, Fowler Drive Elementary, Gaines School Elementary, JJ Harris Elementary, Monsignor Donovan Catholic High, Howard B. Stroud Elementary, Whit Davis Elementary, Whitehead Elementary, and Winterville Elementary schools.

To be recognized as a Green School, at least five teachers must participate in an average of five environmental education activities per classroom.


The program is for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year, and is sponsored by ACC Transportation and Public Works Department, ACC Public Utilities Department, ACC Solid Waste Department / Recycling Division and Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful. It was created in 2004 to provide environmental education resource support for teachers.

triangle New! Check out a list of items that are recyclable (and some that aren't) in Athens-Clarke County at our Online Documents area.

 

triangle New! The Recycling Division and the Classic Center have released a Request for Designs for an outdoor recycling bin at the Classic Center for Georgia-based artists. The information is available in the Online Documents area.

triangle The Solid Waste Department moved to a new SPLOST-funded facility located at 725 Hancock Industrial Way, next to the Athens-Clarke County Materials Recycling Facility.

All functions and programs of the Solid Waste Department previously run from 1005 College Avenue including garbage and recycling bag sales, garbage and recycling collections, leaf and limb program, billing, and customer service will move.

The new Solid Waste facility was built to silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) specifications with features including: low flow fixtures, rainwater capturing system to be used for irrigation, toilets and janitors mop sink, geothermal heat and cooling systems, stormwater management systems and recycled water truck wash bays.  A complete list of LEED features used is available online at www.acc-recycle.org or by calling the Solid Waste Department at (706) 613-3501.

triangleThe Georgia Department of Community Affairs Keep Georgia Beautiful Program presented a First Place Litter Prevention Award to Solid Waste’s Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful Division for the "Seriously... y’all still litter? Time to change your ways" public awareness campaign.

The campaign was also chosen as the "2009 Outstanding Public Education Program" by the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)’s Georgia Chapter.

The SWANA Georgia Chapter also named Solid Waste's Recycling Division as the "2009 Most Outstanding Recycling Program."

triangleNew U.S. Requirements for battery recycling: To prepare batteries for recycling to meet the recently revised U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) standards, consumers must tape the positive end of rechargeable batteries with clear tape and store them in a plastic bag. Rechargeable batteries will be marked: Nickel-Cadmium (NiCad), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH); Lithium-ion (Li-ion), Lithium Polymer, or silver-oxide (button) batteries. Button batteries may be lined up on a strip of clear tape and secured with another strip of clear tape along the top. Alkaline batteries do not have to be taped. This regulation was designed to help prevent major incidents, such as fires, during battery shipment.

In Athens residents can drop off rechargeable and untapped alkaline batteries at the Athens-Clarke County Material Recycling Facility located at 699 Hancock Industrial Way off Olympic Drive Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Feeling confused? When in doubt, seal the positive ends of all batteries with clear tape before recycling. The following stores take only rechargeable batteries for recycling at no charge: Batteries Plus, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's, Office Depot, RadioShack, Sears, Staples, and other free locations posted at www.rbrc.org.

For additional information, contact the ACC Recycling Division at (706) 613-3512 or online at www.acc-recycle.org or on the ACC Recycling Division Facebook page.

triangle A new recycling drop off location has been established at Athens Technical College. The bins are located at the Job Quest Center on Highway 29, across the street from the main campus. For more information on what can be recycled and a complete list of drop off locations, contact the ACC Recycling Facility at 706-613-3512 or visit www.acc-recycle.org.

triangle Athens-Clarke County ordinance states that all loads of trash and debris must be completely covered. This coverage must provide a secure method of preventing contents or litter from dropping or escaping from the vehicle during movement. All loads of trash to be dropped off at the ACC Landfill must be covered. If loads arrive uncovered, drivers will be refused admittance to the landfill and not allowed to drop off their load. For more information, call the Athens-Clarke County Landfill at 706-613-3508.

triangle List of approved residential and commercial haulers in Athens-Clarke County (link to the Solid Waste external site)

triangle Among those honored at the 28th Annual Keep Georgia Beautiful Awards Luncheon in October was Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful, which received a 1st Place State Award for the Cigarette Fairy Litter Prevention Campaign.

The Litter Prevention Category recognizes educational and remedial efforts designed to change attitudes and behaviors, resulting in a positive impact on a community.
KACCB created the Cigarette Fairy public awareness campaign as a creative and innovative way to address the problem of cigarette butt litter.

The campaign highlights a make-believe fairy who picks up discarded cigarette butts from the ground. The campaign was meant to bring attention to cigarette butts as litter and to remind citizens who smoke to dispose of their cigarette waste properly, as cigarette butts do not disintegrate over time.

The Cigarette Fairy public awareness campaign can be seen on UGA buses, Athens Transit buses, Fairway billboards, Beechwood Stadium Cinemas screens, Georgia Square Cinema screens, ACTV, eight cable channels, selected downtown bars, businesses, and newspapers.

triangle Phonebooks for recycling can be placed in the paper recycling bins in your office, curbside collection at home, or at one of seven drop-off locations around Athens.

triangle Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful (KACCB) was presented the National Rogers Award for outstanding television public service announcements at the 2005 Keep America Beautiful National Awards ceremony in Orlando, FL.

Visit the Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful Web site for more information.

triangle Please report missed garbage and/or recycling within 24 hours of your scheduled pick-up. Just call 706-613-3501, extension 0.

triangle Please give our drivers and collectors a hand by following these trash tips:

  • All garbage must be bagged - no loose garbage will be accepted. Loose trash can become litter!
  • Don't allow water to accumulate in the garbage can - it becomes too heavy to liftand/or move.
  • Construction and demolition (C&D) debris (example - wood, shingles, drywall,
    etc.) should not be placed in your trash can. Please contact the ACC Landfill for proper disposal of C&D material at 706-613-3508.
  • Blue bag customers - please don't place more than 40 pounds of garbage in the blue bags (and no more than 40 pounds of recyclables in clear bags).

These tips help our drivers and collectors stay safe and our community clean. For additional information, contact the ACC Solid Waste office at 706-613-3501, extension 0.

Full cost of providing solid waste management services

ACC Residents can now recycle their old electronics for free on a regular basis. Bring your electronics to the ACC Landfill located on 5700 Lexington Rd. between 7:30 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. on

The Glass Packaging Institute has featured Athens-Clarke County's commercial curbside recycling program in the downtown area as a model program.

Residents are required to use PAPER LAWN REFUSE BAGS for all grass clippings, pine straw, small brush, and leaves. No plastic bags will be accepted. Paper lawn refuse bags are available in the Home and Garden section of Target, Wal-Mart, and other local retail stores.

Awards

Activities
The ACC Solid Waste Department provides garbage and recycling services to approximately 8,600 residents in the Urban Services District. We provide garbage and recycling services for approximately 350 commercial businesses in the downtown area and also provide garbage and recycling dumpster services to another 300 businesses in the community. In order to provide recycling opportunities to all residents of the county, the ACC Recycling Division operates 7 recycling drop-off centers conveniently located throughout the county. The recycling drop-off centers are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful
Executive Director: Stacee Ferrell
(706) 613-3501
Formerly a secondary agency, KACCB is now a part of the Solid Waste Department. Their mission is to work towards a cleaner, more beautiful community by improving attitudes and behaviors regarding the environment. They handle neighborhood cleanups, Adopt-a-Highway Programs, Christmas Tree recycling and more.

Materials Recycling Facility
699 Hancock Industrial Way
7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
(706) 613-3512 [Recycling Division]
Waste Reduction Manager: Suki Janssen
The MRF opened on August 31, 1995 as the first public-private partnership facility of its kind in Georgia. Only private and public-sector haulers may deliver recyclables to this facility. It is not open to the public. The facility is owned and operated by FCR, Inc. and located on ACC owned land. Tours and educational programs are available by request; please call (706) 613-3512 to schedule a visit.

Landfill
5700 Lexington Road
(706) 613-3508
Manager: Brad Rickard

Solid Waste Citizens Advisory Committee
The SWCAC is the ONLY committee formed during Athens and Clarke County government unification that is still in existence. It celebrated its 10th anniversary in January 2002. A fact sheet is available in our documents section.