Tellefson Park Recycling Drop-Off Center

It’s just two recycling dumpsters that you can’t open, but there are small ports to dump your flattened boxes. It’s on the edge of a picnic area, I wouldn’t say it’s sketchy.
We came at 11am on a Monday morning. One dumpster was half full, and the other was completely empty. We filled up our SUV with flattened cardboard boxes and one dumpster was more than enough. There were a few boxes on the ground and I can imagine people just dropping off when the dumpsters get full.
Anyways, while it’s great to have a legal spot to dump off your moving boxes, it’s too bad that there are only 2 recycling dumpsters. It seems to me that there is plenty of space to add more dumpsters.

I just moved to the area from DC and the bf and I have tons of cardboard boxes to dispose. Our apartment complex said they’ll fine us if we dump it in their garbage dumpster, so here I am on Unilocal looking for the nearest recycling center.
I was a bit apprehensive about going by myself to the recycling center as the last Unilocal review was 3 yrs ago (³⁄₀₈), so I figured I’d go during the daytime at 4PM. Sure enough when I arrived, there was a group of 5 sketchy guys that were talking and acknowledged me when I pulled up, but minded their own business.(BTW, not a lot of parking, but I just parked in front of the recycling dumpster).
As I was feeding the cardboard boxes one by one, I accidentally bent/​sprained my right thumb trying to decompress some wardrobe boxes. One of the guys heard me in a profanity stupor and offered his help. We had a short conversation but it didn’t go very far as he’s limited in his English. He fed all my boxes and then at the last two boxes, he said he would keep them. When I asked what he was going to use it for, he didn’t answer. so I left it at that and thanked him for his help.
It sucks that I couldn’t get any CRV deposits. But like Bud C. said, if you get wierded out by sketchy people, bring a friend and this is even true three years later!

After reading Ruth’s review, I was a little bit sketchy about heading over to Tellefson for recycling but I found it to be a relatively good experience. Yes, the slits are about 8″ tall but that’s enough for whatever you’re planning to recycle. (If you have boxes, you should probably be breaking them down so they’re flat anyway.) It does take a bit longer having to feed each item through the slot (as opposed to just dumping your lot into a bin) but in a way, I thought this was sort of a good thing. It makes one appreciate how much crap they’ve consumed in the preceding week (s). The two big drawbacks were the lack of parking (I went on a Friday afternoon and there was one spot open among what seemed to be several abandoned cars) and no money for your CRV deposits. But if it takes you over 20 minutes to drive back and forth to Santa Monica like me, it probably all balances out. Also, it’s worth noting that there are often some «unsavory» people that hang out in the park, about 20 feet from the dumpsters. So, if you’re the type of person who gets sketched out, bring a friend.

This is my closest no-​sort recycling drop-​off center. Yes, you are right, it isn’t that close to where I really live. That’s right, I don’t actually live in Culver City– good memory! Alas, the City of Los Angeles doesn’t offer a recycling facility near my home, and my apartment building sadly doesn’t subscribe to LA’s new multi-​family recycling program. I know, it doesn’t reflect very well on my otherwise lovely landlady.
Now, this isn’t one of those «get cash for your bottles and cans» sort of recycling centers. Nope, this is just a parking lot with a few bins for public recycling. And here’s where we run into some problems.
Namely, the bins have only about 8 inch slots for you to squeeze your recyclables into. If you are like me, and dump your empty wine bottles and liberal-​guilt-​mail into a bin of your own, this teeny slit can really put a damper on your recycling parade, as you will then have to reach into your «huh, I guess I really should rinse that milk carton» bin…
Or, you can just dump your recycling into the abundance of cardboard boxes that usually surround the typically overflowing bins. Then you can a) feel like you are essentially donating to the homeless population by allowing them to dig out your empty valuables and b) wonder if what you are doing is recycling or littering.
The truth is, Culver City Recycling Program, yesterday I cheated on you with one of Santa Monica’s bins. And It was better.