MANSFIELD — What do printers, batteries, tires and fluorescent light bulbs have in common?
Believe it or not, they can all be recycled right here in Richland County.
“There’s a lot of services people don’t realize they can do for free here,” said Eddie Hale, executive director of the Richland County Solid Waste Authority.
The Richland County Solid Waste Authority operates a year-round, drive-thru recycling facility at 1125 National Parkway that recycles numerous items for free.
According to executive director Eddie Hale, aluminum cans and cardboard are the only “traditional” materials that need to be pre-sorted for recycling at the facility. But the National Parkway hub also accepts a wider range of materials.
“Electronics, grills, lawn mowers, bicycles — all that can be recycled here,” Hale said.
Most “traditional” items like cardboard and plastic are sold to Milliron Recycling. Electronics get loaded on to a 53 foot semitrailer and sent to a recycling facility in Indianapolis.
“We don’t charge the public unless it’s like a TV or refrigerator,” Hale said as walked by a bin full of box TVs. He pointed to the glass screen. Old cathode ray tube televisions cost more to recycle because of the lead in the glass, he explained.
Milliron Recycling will actually pay residents for many common recyclables. Aluminum cans and siding are worth fifty cents a pound. Copper #1 and #2 are worth $3 and $2.80 per pound, respectively. Cardboard is two cents per pound, #1 and #2 plastic are five cents per pound.
Anything with freon comes with a $10 fee, which covers the cost of recycling the freon. Employees extract the freon from refrigerators, air conditioners and dehumidifiers, sort it by type and sent it to a company in Mansfield that refines and recycles it.
Then items are scrapped and all recyclable components are sent to Milliron Recycling.
Tires cost just $3 to recycle, or $5 if the rim is still attached, and are accepted year-round.
Even yard waste can be recycled, although it requires a trip to a different facility. The RCSWA’s compost facility is located at 441 Cairns Road. Fees start at $1 per bag or $4 per car.
The facility takes all that yard waste and turns it into compost. Compost profits help fund agency operations.
Unlike most county agencies, the SWA operates off its own funds. The agency gets generation fees – a small portion of profits from the Rumpke landfill – and makes money by selling the recycled materials brought in by the public.
The central facility is just one component of the RCSWA’s recycling operations. The agency also oversees the free, residential bins located across Richland County.
Residents can bring most traditional recyclables to the bins for free. They don’t even have to be sorted.
Items accepted at the county recycling bins include newspaper, flattened corrugated cardboard, #1, #2 and #5 plastics, glass, aluminum cans and tin cans. (#5 plastics are a recent addition and may not be listed on existing signage).
Those bins took in 77 tons of recyclables during the month of May, 75 tons in April, 90 in March, 90 in February and 73 in January.
It may seem like a lot, but Hale believes there are still plenty of recyclables going to waste. He’s seen them, laying in heaps out at the county landfill.
“I know there’s not enough being recycled,” he said. “It’s a shame when you see how much cardboard is going to the landfill.”
The Richland County Solid Waste Authority also has a classroom where school groups can experience a free educational program about recycling. The solid waste authority even pays to bus students out.
“We do tours at the landfill, the transfer station goes over best recycling practices for school aged children,” Hale said. “We try to instill in them at a young age reduce, reuse, recycle.”
Another way to recycle is by bringing items a S.C.R.A.P. trailer. The Schools and Community Recycling as Partners program helps generate funds for local schools through a partnership between the RCSWA, Milliron Recycling and local school districts.
The S.C.R.A.P. trailer parks at various schools across the county once a month to accept #1 and #2 plastics, aluminum cans, food cans, newspaper and flattened cardboard. The materials go directly to Milliron Recycling, which mails the school a check in exchange for the materials.
The SWA also releases an annual recycling guide for residents, outlining its services and other recycling options available in Richland County.
“Our sole mission here is to reduce the amount of recyclables that end up in a landfill,” Hale said.
