SAFE Recycling Center Closing After 28 Years

SAN ANGELO, TX — The San Angelo Friends of the Environment (SAFE) Recycling Center, 702 Warehouse Rd., will be closing its doors after 28 years of service on April 22, 2018. SAFE will still be holding its annual Earth Day Event on April 20-21. April 22 is also the celebration of Vladimir Lenin’s birthday in 1870, 147 years ago.

SAFE will not be totally gone though. The non-profit will reorganize under the same name but with a slightly narrower focus: Environmental and Conservation Educating to the public, schools, business and surrounding counties about the four “R’s” of recycling; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover.

With the success of the curbside recycling that San Angelo is now enjoying, the SAFE board believes the organization can better serve the community through educating and providing information to its citizens and surrounding counties. More information about our new direction will be released soon.

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San Angelo Friends of the Environment was formed after a citywide recycling drive was held on Earth Day on April 22, 1990. The success of that first effort encouraged the participants to create a nonprofit organization to promote recycling and environmental awareness in San Angelo and the Concho Valley. A small group of San Angelo citizens met to try to address the lack of recycling avenues in the city.

The original founders included members of the San Angelo Sierra Club chapter and students and faculty of Angelo State University, including the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society. Over the past 28 years SAFE has experienced recycling go from monthly recycling drives at the Sunset Mall and other locations to a permanent site on Knickerbocker Road in 1994.

In 2004 SAFE moved the recycling center to where it is currently located on Warehouse Road. This allowed SAFE to expand the types of materials that could be recycled as well to hold periodic hazardous waste material cleanup drives and electronic waste recycling.

SAFE thanks the community for the support over the years. SAFE also thanks Butts Recycling, Acme Iron and Metal, Republic Services, H-E-B, the City of San Angelo and Tom Green County, TxDOT, Double Dave's Pizza and the countless volunteers for their roles in assisting the center in their recycling efforts.

The following locations will provide public recycling drop off locations throughout San Angelo after SAFE closes its single-point recycling center:

• Butts Recycling 325-653-8957 - 615 W. 11th Street. Cardboard, newspaper/magazines, plastic #1 and #2, tin and aluminum cans. 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. No drop offs after hours.
• Republic Services will be opening a recycling spot at the county landfill.
• Glass recycling will be at Go Green. They will be reopening soon. Please go to their website at gogreenandrecycle.org for further information.
• Mixed metal can be dropped off at ACME Iron and Metal 720 N Buchanan St. and/or at Big Country, 5117 Armstrong St.