More trash recycled in Medina County
Recycling volume last year surpassed 2014
Drop-off bins collected more recyclables last year than was removed from trash hauled to Medina County’s Central Processing Facility in 2014. File photo
MEDINA – The volume of household trash recycled in Medina County is growing under the sum of all parts program instituted in October of 2015.
A recently updated draft report of recycling volume around the county indicates a little over 4,700 tons of paper, plastic, metal and glass was collected in 2016 at the drop-off bins located at various locations around the county. That exceeds the 3,900 tons of recyclable material separated from the trash hauled to the county’s Central Processing Facility in 2014.
The 4,700 tons represents about 1.5 percent of all trash generated in the county in 2016, but the final percentage will not be available until next month when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency produces its final numbers on 2016 trash generation that includes estimates of certain types of industrial and commercial trash hauled outside the state or to disposal sites equipped to handle pernicious material.
The sum of all parts program created by the Medina County Solid Waste District relies heavily on the drop-off bins placed around the county where residents take recyclables they voluntarily separated from their trash. The sum of all parts replaced the mixed-waste operation at the CPF where recyclables were removed from household trash by hand and mechanical sorting equipment.
So far, the sum of all parts appears to be just as effective in recycling as the mixed waste processing operation was until 2015, but at a much lower cost.
Beth Biggins-Ramer, Medina County’s solid waste coordinator, says the drop-off bin program for recycling costs the county at least $2 million more a year to operate than the mixed waste processing operation at the CPF.
The result has been that the county has reduced the tipping rate it charges haulers to dump trash at the CPF from $61 per ton to $42 per ton.
Recycling rates and volumes around the county are likely to continue growing as new recycling options are added to the menu offered under the sum of all parts program. That includes curbside recycling programs like the one being launched in Montville Township with the help of a $250,000 EPA grant.
Biggins-Ramer said the recycling rate in Montville is expected to rise to about 20 percent once the new curbside recycling program there is begun in November.
“Recycling rates vary from one community to the next,” Biggins-Ramer said. “It depends on the residents’ willingness to embrace recycling. Demographics suggest the people in Montville will embrace the opportunity and participate in the curbside program.”
Biggins-Ramer said the sum of all parts plan allows other communities to pursue other recycling options. One of them may be a restoration of mixed-waste processing at the CPF. County officials are in the process of preparing bid specifications for a possible contract to resume operations at the CPF where recyclables will be removed from the ordinary trash hauled there.
Opponents of the current sum of all parts plan say many county residents would prefer the convenience of not separating recyclables themselves, even though having it done for them will be more costly.
Recyclables removed from the trash at an individual’s home or at the CPF does not constitute most of waste recycled in Medina County, however. Nearly 30 percent of material recycled in the county (90,000 tons) is done by industries through separate programs. Another 6 percent (19,000) tons is done through retail companies recycling their cardboard containers and other recyclable material through separate recycling operations.
“We have very forward-looking companies in the county who understand the value of recycling and have instituted their own programs,” Biggins-Ramer said.
A recently updated draft report of recycling volume around the county indicates a little over 4,700 tons of paper, plastic, metal and glass was collected in 2016 at the drop-off bins located at various locations around the county. That exceeds the 3,900 tons of recyclable material separated from the trash hauled to the county’s Central Processing Facility in 2014.
The 4,700 tons represents about 1.5 percent of all trash generated in the county in 2016, but the final percentage will not be available until next month when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency produces its final numbers on 2016 trash generation that includes estimates of certain types of industrial and commercial trash hauled outside the state or to disposal sites equipped to handle pernicious material.
The sum of all parts program created by the Medina County Solid Waste District relies heavily on the drop-off bins placed around the county where residents take recyclables they voluntarily separated from their trash. The sum of all parts replaced the mixed-waste operation at the CPF where recyclables were removed from household trash by hand and mechanical sorting equipment.
So far, the sum of all parts appears to be just as effective in recycling as the mixed waste processing operation was until 2015, but at a much lower cost.
Beth Biggins-Ramer, Medina County’s solid waste coordinator, says the drop-off bin program for recycling costs the county at least $2 million more a year to operate than the mixed waste processing operation at the CPF.
The result has been that the county has reduced the tipping rate it charges haulers to dump trash at the CPF from $61 per ton to $42 per ton.
Recycling rates and volumes around the county are likely to continue growing as new recycling options are added to the menu offered under the sum of all parts program. That includes curbside recycling programs like the one being launched in Montville Township with the help of a $250,000 EPA grant.
Biggins-Ramer said the recycling rate in Montville is expected to rise to about 20 percent once the new curbside recycling program there is begun in November.
“Recycling rates vary from one community to the next,” Biggins-Ramer said. “It depends on the residents’ willingness to embrace recycling. Demographics suggest the people in Montville will embrace the opportunity and participate in the curbside program.”
Biggins-Ramer said the sum of all parts plan allows other communities to pursue other recycling options. One of them may be a restoration of mixed-waste processing at the CPF. County officials are in the process of preparing bid specifications for a possible contract to resume operations at the CPF where recyclables will be removed from the ordinary trash hauled there.
Opponents of the current sum of all parts plan say many county residents would prefer the convenience of not separating recyclables themselves, even though having it done for them will be more costly.
Recyclables removed from the trash at an individual’s home or at the CPF does not constitute most of waste recycled in Medina County, however. Nearly 30 percent of material recycled in the county (90,000 tons) is done by industries through separate programs. Another 6 percent (19,000) tons is done through retail companies recycling their cardboard containers and other recyclable material through separate recycling operations.
“We have very forward-looking companies in the county who understand the value of recycling and have instituted their own programs,” Biggins-Ramer said.