Peace of Mind Recycling offers pickup, transparency for your glass in Atlanta

July 10th, 2023

Grant Wallace started Peace of Mind Recycling to offer doorside pickup and a guarantee that waste glass will make it to a local recycling center instead of a landfill. (Daniel Rayzel/WABE)

Do you know where your glass is going?

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates about a third of glass containers in the U.S. get recycled. After years of low recycling rates, some municipalities have replaced single-stream services – where glass is mixed in with other types of recyclable materials in one pickup bin.

But in DeKalb County, resident Grant Wallace is hoping to offer transparency to the Atlanta area through his own business, Peace of Mind Recycling.

It’s Wallace’s newest venture since he was last profiled by “Closer Look” in 2019 for his lawncare service, Grantlanta Lawn.

For $25 a month, Wallace provides bins and picks up your glass each month, then personally drops it off for recycling at Strategic Materials, Inc. in College Park.

“You get food delivered, you get groceries delivered,” Wallace said. “Why isn’t there a service to have your glass delivered?”

Peace of Mind Recycling was partly inspired by Wallace’s lack of confidence in other recycling services – including government-run programs – bringing glass to the right place.

He shared a friend’s video with “Closer Look” that shows a DeKalb County truck marked “Glass Only” dumping a bed full of glass at Seminole Landfill.

As of publication, a DeKalb County Public Works spokesperson says the department is “still researching the circumstances surrounding the video.”

“Closer Look” host Rose Scott recently joined Wallace for a pickup around Atlanta’s eastside to learn more about Peace of Mind Recycling and what drives Wallace’s passion for the service.