Did you know that up to 40% of food grown and imported into the U.S. is wasted? Solid Waste Management Districts across Southwest Ohio are working with food service businesses and institutions to implement wasted food management practices that save money, benefit society, build customer loyalty, and improve the environment.
At this virtual workshop, the Center for EcoTechnology (CET) will provide an introduction to implementing wasted food prevention, donation, and diversion programs to Food Manufacturers and Retailers. Participants will also have a chance to meet with local service providers.
Participants will leave with an understanding of the next steps for building wasted food management into their operations and access to digital resources and guidance documents. All attendees will also have access to free one-on-one technical assistance from CET, which they can sign up for during or after the workshop.
Please reach out to wastedfood@cetonline.org with any questions.
You can find complete details in the event registration form. We will be sharing a final agenda and list of speakers with registered attendees prior to the event.
This workshop is in partnership with Hamilton, Warren, Montgomery, Adams-Clermont, and Butler County Solid Waste Management Districts, with support from EPA Region 5.
Safeguard your identity and help protect the environment, all in one event! The public can take advantage of this environmentally friendly and secure way to safely dispose of private documents and personal electronic devices. The event will be held on Saturday, April 24, 2021, from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at McNicholas High School parking lot located at 6536 Beechmont Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45230.
This event is being hosted by McNicholas High School and proceeds will benefit the McNicholas Athletic Program and Alumni Association. Document Destruction will be handling document shredding while Cobalt will handle the recycling of electronic waste. For $20 participants can shred up to 5 bankers boxes/average sized trash bags of items such as paper, staples, binders, paper clips, hanging file folders, and notebooks. For $10 participants can recycle up to 2 boxes or laundry baskets of electronics such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, desktops, and computer towers (no monitors, keyboards, mice, cords or accessories accepted).
To ensure safety during the COVID pandemic, place all containers in your trunk and a volunteer will unload, wear a mask or facial covering, remain in your car at all times, and separate electronics from shred items. More information about the event can be found here.
If you dropped off a strand of Christmas lights to one of the drop offs in the county this past holiday season, you’d be happy to hear that the amount of lights collected was almost double the amount collected during the prior year. Due to multiple collection points hosted by various county agencies, a total of 620 pounds of lights were collected in Clermont County!
The collected lights were taken to Cohen Recycling for processing. First, Cohen removed any non-recyclable trash from the load of lights. Lights were then packaged up and shipped to a metal recycler, where they will be chopped up into little pieces and the copper removed.
The recycling process is different depending on who buys the recycled lights. In some states, the lights are shredded, then separated into the raw products (plastic, glass and metal wire). These raw products are used to make roofing & construction materials, soles on slippers, car batteries, and new copper wire and pipes to name a few.
So, thank you to all who recycled Christmas lights through the special program. By adhering to ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’, we can make our world a little cleaner, a little more sustainable.
Did you know that up to 40% of food grown and imported into the U.S. is wasted, and about 40% of that waste is generated by consumer-facing businesses like grocers, restaurants, institutions, and food service providers? Solid Waste Management Districts across Southwest Ohio are working with businesses, institutions, and service providers to address wasted food.
At this virtual workshop, the Center for EcoTechnology will review the strategies and best practices for addressing wasted food. You will also participate in 2 breakout group sessions of your choosing, focusing on specific solutions across the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy.
As a participant, you will leave with an understanding of the steps to establish programs, an awareness of key pitfalls and considerations for success, and a curated list of resources to help you on your journey.
Please reach out to wastedfood@cetonline.org with any questions. We hope you can join us!
You can find complete details in the event registration form. We will be sharing a final agenda and list of speakers with registered attendees prior to the event.
This workshop is in partnership with Hamilton, Warren, Montgomery, Adams-Clermont, and Butler County Solid Waste Management Districts, with support from EPA Region 5.
Starting January 11th, 2021, residents and businesses will be able to recycle #5 plastic tubs in Rumpke’s recycling program. So, yogurt eaters rejoice! Bring on the butter tubs and toss in those fruit cups! All of these items will find new life through Rumpke’s enhanced recycling program. Residents can now place plastic tubs, along with their lids in the recycling bin. Be sure to rinse the container and reattach the lid before tossing in the bin.
Like with other acceptable items, Rumpke has secured long-term contracts with stable, regional end users for this material, and with a grant from The Recycling Partnership, they will soon install new machinery at some of our recycling facilities to better sort the material.
Rumpke will officially launch the new program January 11, 2021. This addition to the acceptable materials list expands the types of plastics accepted, which currently includes plastic bottles and jugs only (disregard # on bottom of container and go by the mouth narrower than container rule). You can find a full list of the accepted recyclable materials here.
When the holidays are over, make sure you treecycle! The act of recycling a live Christmas tree is a leading reason many experts agree they are more environmentally friendly than their plastic counterparts.
Treecycling is the act of recycling your cut Christmas tree, so that it can be used in other capacities. The trees can get a second life after they are chipped (used for mulch and hiking trails), become fish or wildlife habitat, or are utilized for lake and river shoreline stabilization.
Locally, many communities and the Clermont County Park District are offering opportunities for you to treecycle. But before you take your tree to a collection site or haul it to the curb for pick-up, please be sure to remove all lights, tinsel, and decorations.
Among Clermont County recycling opportunities:
Looking to recycle string lights? click here
Recycle your broken or unwanted holiday lights in Clermont County at any of the locations listed below. Only holiday lights should go in the designated collection bins – please do not put bags or boxes in the bins.
Items to be recycled include indoor and outdoor light strands, icicle lights and rope lights. Please do not bring individual bulbs, pre-lit trees, wreaths or other decorations. Also please don’t put holiday lights in the curbside or drop-off recycling dumpsters. Lights have to be collected separately from other recyclables because they can tangle the equipment used to sort materials at the recycling facilities.
For questions about this program, please contact Laura Lair of the Solid Waste District at llair@clermontcountyohio.gov or visit www.CohenUSA.com/lights.
Located just outside of Clermont County, McNicholas High school is hosting a low-cost shred event on November 7th from 9am-12pm. Participants may bring up to 5 banker’s boxes (or household trash bags) of documents to shred for just $20. For comparison, the minimum cost of shredding services at a typical retailer is $1/lb. — a full banker’s box can weigh 35 lbs. or more!
Proceeds from the event benefit McNicholas High School’s athletic programs.
Good news! The annual Spring Litter Cleanup has been rescheduled for July 4th through 25th. Go to www.springlittercleanup.com for more information!
Plastic bags do not go in curbside or drop-off recycling bins! Trash bags and shopping bags cannot be recycled at the facilities we send our recyclables to. When bags go to our recycling facilities, they can tangle on the sorting equipment and cause it to break down. Remove your recyclables from bags when you put them in the bin.
Although plastic shopping bags cannot be recycled through our curbside or drop-off recycling programs, recycling your bags is still possible through special programs. Try bringing your shopping bags to a grocery or department store for recycling. Many stores have plastic bag recycling bins just inside their entryways. Make sure your bags are clean and dry before dropping them off at a store recycling program.
Example of an in-store plastic bag recycling program
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