Reduce, reuse and recycle are the key words Kenneth Bender wants to promote in Richland County as Executive Director of the Richland County Regional Solid Waste Management Authority. With the celebration of Earth Day on Tuesday, the Solid Waste facility made a special effort to collect items not normally accepted at the facility.
“Some of the odd items we tried to collect, it’s just a special event to celebrate Earth Day,” said Bender.
On Earth Day, Richland County Solid Waste collected automotive batteries, rechargeable power tool batteries, empty propane tanks, fire extinguishers, cell phones, inkjet cartridges and mercury fever thermometers. The facility exchanged one free digital fever thermometer per household for mercury thermometers collected.
Bender said he did notice an increase in traffic in the days surrounding Earth Day, with more people aware of recycling thanks to the holiday. Every person who brought recyclables to the facility on Tuesday was gifted with a tiny blue spruce tree to plant.
“On Saturday we had a really big run on corrugated cardboard, it was everywhere,” said Bender with a laugh. “I would assume people are conscious of Earth Day.”
On any other day of the year, Richland County Solid Waste accepts plastics #1 and #2, newspaper, phone books, magazines and catalogs, aluminum cans, steel cans, books, electronics and appliances, corrugated cardboard, inkjet cartridges and cell phones, rechargeable, lithium and button cell batteries, and glass. After collection, these materials are transported to different vendors who actually recycle the materials.
Mandated by the state, the Richland County Regional Solid Waste Management Authority is a stand-alone authority with the goal of educating the public and providing the means for the public to recycle.
“We encourage residents of Richland County to recycle, we encourage businesses to recycle and we encourage businesses to start up recycling facilities,” said Bender.
All efforts promoted by Richland County Solid Waste are to promote recycling or reducing to cut down on the usage of landfill space. In addition to the drive-through recycling facility located at 1125 National Parkway in Mansfield, Bender said there are a number of collection programs throughout the county.
The S.C.R.A.P. Trailer (School Community Recycling As Partners) picks up recyclable materials at 20 local schools each month. Materials accepted include #1 and #2 plastic, aluminum cans, tin cans, newspaper and corrugated cardboard. Schools receive 100 percent of the money from the sale of recyclables. On Tuesday, a S.C.R.A.P. trailer visited Dowds Elementary School in Shelby from 2 to 4 p.m. for the community to drop off its recyclables. A calendar of when and where the S.C.R.A.P. trailer will be located can be found on the Richland County Solid Waste website.
“The folks in the community of a school can go to that trailer and put their recyclables in, then we take it and sell it and all the proceeds to go that school,” explained Bender. “It’s to promote the community to recycle, and then also help their school.”
Bender noted Richland County Solid Waste also provides 15 sets of drop boxes for recyclables in locations throughout the county.
When it comes to education, Bender said the facility is staffed with an environmental teacher and houses a classroom where fourth grade classes from all over Richland County are invited to experience hands-on programs that teach about recycling or how waste affects the earth. Most classes also take a tour of either the landfill or of the transfer station in Mansfield, which transfers waste from the station to the landfill.
“Many have graduated high school and we see them, and they say they remember the classes,” said Bender. “The education is a slow process, but it builds. It’s slowly working.”
It’s a process that is important to Bender and to the future of the planet, as he noted all the products used in daily life are of limited quantities.
“There are not an infinite number of soybeans that we grow for plastics or the coal and oil products that we use,” he said. “We need to reduce the usage of those natural resources.”
Bender added it is important not only to reduce the usage of natural resources, but also to reduce pollution.
“It affects our water from a lot of runoff from manufacturing gets into both surface and groundwater, and of course air pollution from the processes of heat and chemical reactions,” he said. “We want to reduce the use of those carcinogens that affect human and animal and plant life.”
Despite the sometimes-bleak outlook on the environment, Bender is optimistic about a sustainable future.
“I think it’s feasible that at some time in the future we’ll get to the point where we’ll almost be 100 percent recyclable,” he said. “The future is going to be we’ll be up in the high 90 percent or 100 percent recyclable.”
“We encourage residents of Richland County to recycle, we encourage businesses to recycle and we encourage businesses to start up recycling facilities,” said Bender.
