Atlanta nonprofit makes an impact by recycling items you can’t put on the curb

ATLANTA — As technology advances, more older electronics are headed to landfills where they should not end up.

Channel 2 Chief Meteorologist Emeritus Glenn Burns took a closer look at a local nonprofit that is doing a lot of work to recycle everything from furniture to glass, and electronics.

The group has made a major impact on future generations.

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The Center for Hard to Recycle Materials or CHaRM, was initially set up to take things you cannot put on the curb.

Now it’s a major operation in southeast Atlanta.

Soon, they’ll have a new location in DeKalb County.

In 2022 alone, CHaRM recycled 121 tons of styrofoam, 258 tons of glass, and more than 3,500 mattresses.

When it comes to electronics, the nonprofit focuses on getting the most out of them.

They safely discard containments and keep what’s good.

“There’s toxins in them, there’s arsenic, there’s lead,” Peggy Whitlow Ratcliff, Live Thrive Founder and Executive Director said. “There’s also very valuable materials in them as well that can be recaptured and made into new electronics.”

For the devices that do not need to be destroyed, CHaRM uses a local processor that strips off all of the personal information.

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If it’s something that can be used by a school, that’s where they end up.

“A lot of laptops and tablets are redistributed to communities that can’t afford them,” Ratcliff said.

For every one million cell phones that are recycled, the EPA estimates that 3,500 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, and 75 pounds of gold can be recovered.

If you want to drop off items at CHaRM, check the list of what they accept on their website and schedule a drop-off.

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