Rumpke Recycling Center Tour
At EC30, we’re committed to evolving business practices to reduce our impact – it’s a huge part of our often-discussed Journey to Carbon Neutral Cleaning. Late last year, the EC30 team had the chance to really see the impact of these changes with a tour of the Rumpke Recycling Center in Cincinnati, OH.
Guided by Director of Recycling Jeff Snyder, we were able to witness what happens to the materials after the general public puts them into their single-stream recycling.
While it may seem like recycling hasn’t changed much, Snyder assured us that there have been serious investments in technology that seek to improve the quantity of items that can be recycled. Rumpke’s Cincinnati center utilizes PET scanners to sort products based on material. They are typically very efficient at differentiating compliant products from those that aren’t, but they’re not perfect. For example, a clear water bottle and a clear produce container may look the same to a digital scanner, but they hold different melting points, making them difficult to recycle together. Snyder says that with even more investment, AI technology will be able to ensure that these items are separated and recycled differently.
Fun Facts:
- Rumpke’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) is the 8th largest facility in the United States.
- Over 15,000 tons of residential and commercial single-stream recycling pass through Rumpke’s Cincinnati MRF every month (that’s over 185,000 tons a year!)
- The most common end-market product of recycled goods are corrugated boxes.
- It takes, on average, 7-9 days for anything composed of fibers to go from “bin to box
Did you know that not all recycling laws are created equal? Depending upon where you live, there could be different regulations and acceptable materials. But how do you inform yourself of what’s right in your area? Snyder recommends consulting a variety of resources:
- Recycling Partnership: As a leading, national force for improving recycling, The Recycling Partnership puts private dollars to work in communities to protect resources, empower sustainable action and unlock opportunity.
- Close the Loop Fund: Close the Loop helps companies gain control over their sustainability processes. They make it easy to take back, recover, and reuse your high value products – so they don’t end up in rivers, landfills - or on someone else’s assembly line.
- The National Waste & Recycling Association: NWRA is the voice in the nation’s capital for the private sector waste and recycling industry that is essential to maintaining the quality of American life. The delivery of waste and recycling services impacts all residential, commercial and industrial properties on a daily basis.
Don’t forget – your EC30 products come in packaging that’s 100% recyclable! And thanks to huge packaging reductions, our new eco-shipper trial kit contains half the packaging of our previous kits – our biggest packaging reduction to date! We’re so glad to have you on this journey with us.
Join the Journey to Carbon Neutral Clean!
- Best sellers