Operating Hours
(starting Nov 5th)
Tues-Fri 9:00am-4:00pm
Sat 8:30am-12:00pm
"Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden to cultivate it and guard it."
-Genesis 2:15
As a Christian ministry, we take seriously our call to be good stewards of God's creation. Part of this calling means doing our part to reduce our own waste streams and encourage greener behaviors in our community.
Beginning in 2019, COM began a recycling program that handled cardboard and electronics. In 2024, COM developed a partnership with Polk County to take over management of the entire recycling center for the County. We now recycle a large array of materials. The revenues we raise from this social enterprise go back to create transitional employment opportunities for our low-income neighbors. This not only provides an additional source of income for individuals, but it also creates job training opportunities for our clients who are working on improving their skills for employment.
Local residents can drop off recycling in COM's warehouse Tuesday-Saturday. Additionally, COM offers cardboard pickups for local businesses (call 417-326-2769 x1510 or email recycling@bolivarcom.org for more info).
For electronics, COM has partnered with Computer Recycling Center in Springfield. Old electronics may be given to COM to be recycled and data containing devices or papers are securely destroyed.
How to Sort Items
Why do some items have a fee?
As recycling programs grew decades ago, many were subsidized by the federal government to encourage greater participation and many of our materials were shipped overseas to other markets for processing. However, in the past decade, international markets have become less stable and prices paid to recyclers have become very volatile. Additionally, some materials, while recyclable, do not have enough demand and have no resale value. Other items, because of how they are manufactured, are labor intensive to recycle and do not make a profit after labor.
Although COM is a nonprofit, we must also follow healthy business practices to ensure our programs are sustainable. Charging a small fee on items that have no current resale value or cost us to recycle allows us to help you reduce your waste while ensuring our programs can continue to be solvent, allowing us to pass along revenues to our low-income neighbors.
COM Glass Pass
