South Suburban College Center for Hard to Recycle Materials Offered New Grant to Enhance Recycling Efforts in South Suburban Cook County


 South Suburban College Center for Hard to Recycle Materials Offered New Grant to Enhance Recycling Efforts in South Suburban Cook County
 

SOUTH HOLLAND, IL–In April 2023, Cook County and South Suburban College (SSC) partnered to establish the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) on the college’s Main Campus. The SSC partnership with Cook County, funded primarily through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant, has significantly impacted recycling in Southland communities, processing over 40,000 pounds of materials in just four months of CHaRM facility operations. The impactful collaboration has attracted a new partner, The Recycling Partnership.


SSC was awarded a grant from The Recycling Partnership because of its dedication to advancing recycling in the community. The Recycling Partnership is a national group focused on boosting municipal recycling. This non-governmental organization has also agreed to provide technical assistance to Cook County and SSC staff in various other recycling initiatives in the south suburbs. Supplemental educational marketing dollars are also provided as a result of the grant to assist with community awareness and outreach programming efforts.


The state-of-the-art CHaRM facility provides Cook County residents with a dedicated recycling drop-off point that helps divert millions of pounds of waste and hard-to-recycle items from local landfills and water systems annually. A cutting-edge compactor was recently purchased and installed, making the collection and transport of recyclables more efficient. This helps reduce the operating cost of the CHaRM facility.


The CHaRM is open to all Cook County residents by appointment or during regular hours on Tuesdays from 7 a.m. to 12 noon, Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., and the second Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CHaRM accepts a wide range of items for recycling, including clothing, furniture, e-waste, glass, metal, paper, plastic, small appliances, Styrofoam, and textiles. Televisions are only accepted during Saturday hours.
Visit www.ssc.edu/charm for a comprehensive list of accepted materials and to make a drop-off reservation. Contact Antwon Russell, SSC Sustainability Coordinator, at (708) 596-2000, ext. 2440 or via email at ATRussell@ssc.edu for more information or to inquire about the CHaRM at SSC. The SSC Main Campus is located at 15800 South State Street, South Holland, Illinois.


This project is being supported by federal award number ALN 21.027 awarded to Cook County by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

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