Wastewise (Halton Hills) Community Resource Centre

I went to this place for over 20 years before it was even at it's current location. The prices are way too high now. They used to weigh everything and it's purpose was so people could recycle things instead of buying new and lower income people could afford items they need. It's purpose now is to make money and rip people off. They've turned a hidden georgetown gem into a terrible store. Shameful

For anyone looking for a better place to support a charity go to:

Habitat for humanity

700 Main St E, Milton, ON L9T 3P6

All the workers are volunteers all the money goes to habitat it's a much larger store with better prices.

Very helpful young staff, great finding a shed door for 15$
So happy to reuse and recycle!

A lot of junk and you have to have an eye for things which you can reuse, repurpose and recycle. I find many of the priced items to be steep and they don't lower them so things keep piling up. I like coming to check on new inventory and I have found some real treasures. Here's a planter and ornate glass fixture which I turned into a birdbath.

Large, spacious store with some gems and reasonable prices though a touch dank and offputting.

However, after witnessing an incident where staff were extremely rude to a customer, I'll never go back. Not only did they scream at a customer who'd put some items on hold, claiming another customer had put them on hold but the shopping assistant had 'forgotten' to put a hold notice on but they did not utter a single apology.

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Thanks for your response. I would be very interested in knowing what you learned and what steps you've taken to address this.

This place has changed a lot since that main cashier guy left. Definitely for the better and prices are a lot more reasonable. Using pricecharting.com to price everything was just crazy, that site themselves are way overpriced. Certainly a more inviting place to shop now. Will revisit soon.

I spend like an hour there got something from waste bins with no price tag. As per their rule it must be weight to price but the cashier lady said its $12. The brand New pin pack item from the Walmart is $15.
If its Charity please keep it charity store for the low income people to buy something for their kids in such hard time. Hopefully management will think about prices.

If you are looking to remodeling your home or cottage, this is the first place to go. If your on a tight budget and you need to replace lights or wiring, plumbing or furniture. Look no further.
This place has it all. Sporting goods,
Tools, pictures & Nik Naks. You will find it all
in the lowest price any where. Shopping there, you will be helping those in need.
The money goes to charity. You can also
donate.

Staff is all super helpful and kind. Prices are amazing and i always find something great there.

I love this place so much, you can get the coolest stuff for so cheap, makes value village look like a bunch of clowns!

I’ve always received great service from wastewise. Prices are great, although of late they seem to have gone up. Not sure if Michael still works here, he was always very polite and nice to us. The place has been cleaned up, (almost feels empty). You can sometimes find a diamond in the rough.

Good deals. Bit dangerous space. Lot of broken glass on the ground, not a good place to bring kids.dishes are piled high and I did not feel comfortable moving much to see what all was there. I paid by weight which was cool. Worked out quite well for a couple treasures. Would have stayed longer and bought more if it was more accessible. Good treasure hunting place.

I have only ever gone here for clothes and usually i can find a couple of cute things for very cheap! It could be way more organized, though.

New Management knows what they are doing. I have never seen the place so full of stuff. Staff always looks happy, and that woman at the frint cash is a great choice. She always says hi as soon as you walk in. It is a pleasure coming here.

We have been shopping waste wise for 4 yrs now and we have NEVER had a bad experience with their prices OR their staff
We drive from Brampton & it is *worth the drive to Georgetown to experience WASTEWISE* We are aware that there is new management BUT we must say it has NOT made a difference in our experience except the place is a little more organized and they are trying hard to maintain it.

Love love love this place! If I could give it 10 stars I would
Thank you Wastewise for what you do!
And staff experience is a +5 star for us as well

I went to this place for over 20 years before it was even at it's current location. The prices are way too high now. They used to weigh everything and it's purpose was so people could recycle things instead of buying new and lower income people could afford items they need. It's purpose now is to make money and rip people off. They've turned a hidden georgetown gem into a terrible store. Shameful

Response to owner: Whatever is left after your salaries goes to charities. $1 per pound if you ever used the scale for anything. I gave you the benefit of doubt for months but it's rediculous the prices.

For anyone looking for a better place to support a charity go to:

Habitat for humanity

700 Main St E, Milton, ON L9T 3P6

All the workers are volunteers all the money goes to habitat it's a much larger store with better prices.

Really the only reason I come to Georgetown from Brampton. The size of the place is massive. Its impossible to walk out empty handed.

Stopped going here due to negative experiences with the guy that works the counter. Only a person that owns the place, could or would act like that. An employee would be fired immediately. So I don't see it changing anytime soon. That is sad because it has been a positive place for the community longer than that guy has been alive.

Just found out about Wastewise a few weeks ago. Wow have I been missing out. It has everything you need, even a couple kitchen sinks.
I'm not from Georgetown but I will be making some extra trips there now.

Have enjoyed coming here for years. I have more luck shopping here then donating - our items have been turned away a few times but I understand there's a limit on space.

Lots of little tid bits and things you can refinish! I love thrifting this place was great! Friendly staff too:)

Used to be a great place to find so many items and hidden gems. As many have noted.there has been a change for the worse in the last few months. Very picky about which items they take (apparently they weren't taking books, never has this been the case before) got rid of the VHS's and took away the charm that once existed. It used to be a little cluttered, but that was the fun going there and picking through items and finding hidden gems, not anymore as the sorting table no longer exists. I walked through the front slide up door, and they said -"you can't enter through there" meanwhile that was never an issue before and maybe they should put a sign out there if they don't want people walking through. Going there recently, I noticed the lack of customers compared to when I went previously. Before, you would have trouble finding parking and it was fairly busy especially in the weekdays - it seemed like more people were working / volunteering than customers. Now I've heard they closed temporarily for the last two days - so clearly something is wrong because this never happened before. Most likely they realize they screwed up the reputation of the place and lost a lot of the old customers. Probably will have new owners again i'm guessing. Shame this place was a great community resource and was so great for finding cheap items and realizing you were helping the community - greed ruined a good thing.

Stay Away from Wastewise!
Within a week, all the kindhearted, decent and hardworking staff vanished and suddenly Satan and his followers appear! Coincidence. Not a chance!
Obviously The Independent Free Press didn't verify the story with the former board members or store manager because there is no way that any of those people would've left without a very good reason. After what I've heard in the community, they were forced out by that pompous power monger Carlucci and he hand selected a new board. How is that legal? The community shouldn't stand for it and especially shouldn't support these people. The organization and what it stood for vanished with the honest people who are no longer there!

It’s not what it used to be. They’re picky about what you can donate and the prices have skyrocketed.
Plus I’m no longer sure how it’s a charity or where proceeds are going.
I’m thinking the owners pocket.

I have been going into browse and buy at Wastewise for approxv6 yrs now And want to say the IMPROVEMENT IN CLEANLINESS AND REORGANISATION is amazing what a GREAT JOB PEOPLE!

All your hard work is really appreciated
The place looks good inviting and of course a big THANK YOU TO the friendly and helpful staff.

With respect for a job well done.

Linda Solnik
Terra Cotta ON

I've volunteered here a few times, and gotten a few things from here as well. If you are looking for some Volunteer hours, or a place to work over the summer, I highly recommend doing so here.

Used to be a great place to stop by weekly. The new management has some strange policies, though. For example, CDs are now charged by number of discs and not by album. This means that the cashier opened every CD case I brought up to the front to count the discs inside, and charged me $1 for each disc. Used to feel like you would get a really good bargain here, but now it feels like walking into a big-box store. They stopped selling VHS tapes, which was one of the reasons I'd come here. Expect the types of things you purchased before to now be double the price with less variety than before. It seemed like the place was closing down or something when the management switched over; all the random stuff you could find that made your visit fun was starting to get thrown out, I guess.

Love the new "look. " The displaying of furniture is so much better now. I went in on Saturday to find a blender - wow! The shelves have been cleaned up and all products were easy to view and take down from the shelves. Spotted a blender immediately and it was only $5! Of course, I had to buy some books. Metal is still accepted, not stuff like paper and cardboard that Halton Hills picks up, but why lug my stuff down there when I only need to take it to the curb? Keep up the good work Wastewise staff and volunteers!

If I could give no stars I would.
Wastewise is no longer a fun place to visit. The new managment is a joke, with no experience, horrible social skills, no communication skills, terrible pricing on items.and the list goes on.
The recycling program that was once in place is no longer there and there are massive roll off bins full of what they deem "garbage" getting tossed. Wasn't Wastewise's purpose to keep thing out of the dump? They've invested in new cameras to watch illegal dumping into their bins.and can't even spare the energy to respect the views of volunteers and employees. Telling them their opinions do not matter- well get it straight people -they were there long before you showed up on your high horse.
No community minded management whatsoever. Very shrewd, should have stuck to politics.if anyone ever had any sense to vote for you, oh wait. I guess they didn't thank goodness.

They had a really great thing going until new snobby management took over.

Awful, simply awful now that new management has taken over. Picked out a jacket, cashier had to
confirm with manager for pricing.took a few minutes. $60!
For a used jacket shell with no liner.
Seems extremely empty, not much to look at or hunt through anymore, the fun is all gone.

Place has gone down hill fast with the new management team. Everyone I know who use to go there complains about staff, lack of inventory, change in policies and no more recycling. For 27 years this place was great. Why they decided to change something that worked so well is unknown. Looks like they are trying to turn it into a profitable business. Staff is rude to customers. They Don't recycle products and turn away more than they take now. Don't waste your time. Shame that the community has lost such a great resource that was once WasteWise. Now it's just a waste of time.

I go there twice a week. And always I find something good in there. Never leave without buying something. The people there are so nice. They always asking me if I need help.i love it.

Used to be great before the new "management" took over. Now management is EXTREMELY rude and prices are up, up, up. I no longer go here and I give my donations elsewhere where the management isn't rude. It's too bad, it used to be a great place. I agree with all the other reviewers who have said how this place has changed since new management. The evidence is here, just look at the reviews before the new management.they were good/great. Now, awful.terrible.

Always the perfect place to find hidden gems. And the gems I have been searching for. Newly cleaned out and re organized, it is always an adventure.

This was one of my favorite ways to loose an hour. I very been twice in the last 2 months, and both times my experience was not fun. If I could rate this with 0 stars. I would.

"New management" and staff are VERY RUDE. (Maybe it's because they now have matching shirts?). For being a business based and supported in Halton this goes against the culture of our community.

Prices have gone up, way up, to the point where it only costs a few dollars more to buy the product brand new. In some cases, buying the product brand new would be cheaper.

I've been going to wastewise since it first began and the change that I've seen recently is extremely disheartening, therefore, I will no longer go there or donate. The new 'management' is a disgrace (I use quotations because they have no clue as to how to run an establishment) or know what wastewise meant to the community. The wastewise board of directors is composed of people not even from the area and their blatant lack of respect for past employees and volunteers is disgusting. They are bullies that cannot resolve any issues on their own and have even resulted to threatening police force of the removal of a volunteer. Wastewise is a shell of what is use to be. Donations are quickly swept away from the public and prices are comparable to that of a big box retail store. They are not "for the community" and it's apparent they are greedy, money hungry and suspicious.