July 8, 2026 • 18 mins
Guest is Mary Copenbaker is the Assistant Solid Waste Manager at Hamilton County ReSource. Free programs available to businesses and residents to reduce the amount of waste and unwanted items thrown in the landfill.
Hamilton County businesses throw away an estimated 138,050 tons of food scraps every year — worth about $312 million in wasted value. A new 2025 study found that 64–84% of what local businesses discard could be diverted from landfills, depending on the industry.
Hamilton County ReSource — a free county resource — helps businesses waste less through on-site consulting, customized plans, and grant funding. In April 2026, they launched the Sustainability Pledge: a free, public commitment any Hamilton County business can sign online. All three Hamilton County Commissioners signed at the kickoff.
You don’t have to figure this out alone. ReSource does the work with you, at no cost.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're talking about the Hamilton County Resource. This great organization
here in the county recently turned Earth Month into a
call to action. They're bringing together business leaders, nonprofits, and
county commissioners to launch this first ever Resource Pledge Day
that they had the event highlighting this new study that
(00:21):
they put together that shows as much as eighty four
percent of commercial waste can be diverted from landfills. In
other words, eighty four percent of that stuff shouldn't be
going in there, and they've unveiled a new funding source
to help rescue surplus food from the landfill and not
throw it away. So joining us to talk about the
(00:43):
findings of this new study, plus the effort by businesses
and individuals to improve these dumbers and what it all
means for businesses in the environment is Mary Copenbaker. She
is the assistant Solid Waste Manager for Hamilton County Resource.
Thanks for being on the show and sharing all your knowledge. Mary,
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We're all in spring cleaning mode, some of us still are,
and the hardest part is getting rid of your stuff.
You know, some can be reused, as we know a
lot can be recycled for what you're telling us and repurposed.
Tell us about Hamilton County Resource, the program and what
your findings are with this new study.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, absolutely, So, Hamilton County Resource is a local government agency.
We are a solid waste district, So in Ohio, every
county has to have or be a part of a
solid waste district, and our entire mission is just to
keep material from going to the landfill. But we're largely
non regulatory, so in order to kind of achieve that mission,
(01:42):
we create programs for different audiences that help kind of
incentivize and support waste diversion efforts. So we do waste
characterization studies of the landfill in Hamilton County every few years,
both residentially and more recently we've done a commerce one
as well. So residentially, we know that about sixty nine
(02:03):
percent of what residents are sending to the landfill could
be diverted in some way, and then that number is
even higher when we're talking about commercial, so it's anywhere
from sixty seven to eighty four percent depending on the
type of business that it is. So restaurants are the
one where it's eighty four percent, but somewhere in that
you know, seventy to eighty percent range is material that
(02:25):
could be diverted. So we have a whole bunch of
programs really to try and help with education around what
you know you could do with that material, but then
also programs that help kind of support those efforts as well.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
So in my mind, when you're wrapping something up, you're
cleaning your house, you're cleaning out your offices, you're cleaning
out your nonprofit, you really are just thinking about getting
it done and getting it out of there. But you're saying,
there's so many resources, you really need to plan ahead
to figure out where this stuff is going to go.
Some people have the luxury to do that, others don't.
(03:00):
So let's make it easier for people to figure out,
for example, if they have you know, office supplies or
office equipment or recyclables like plastic bags that are always
talking about what is it? What is it that you're
trying to get out of the landfills great question.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So that's a great lead in because it can be
really confusing and difficult. And even in that number where
we're talking about, you know, sixty nine percent is divertible,
what does that even really mean? So within that kind
of diversion potential. Some of that is single stream recyclable,
so things that you know you could put curbside are
out in a recycling dumpster. Another good chunk is organic material,
(03:37):
and that's a really big focus for our office, where
we know that about one hundred over one hundred and
thirty eight thousand tons of food goes to our landfill
each year, and that's food that could a large portion
of that is food that could go to feeding hungry people.
It's food that's usable, food that could be donated, and
we have a great food rescue network here in Hamilton County.
(04:00):
And then another portion of that divertle material is our
items that could go for reuse or specialty recycling. So
those would be things that you could take to reuse
organizations like Goodwill or specialty recycling like electronics and metal.
But obviously that's a lot to think through, like you
just mentioned, and so that's really what our office exists
(04:23):
to do. I like to say that we act like
free waste consultants. So if you you know, as a resident,
we have a search tool on our website where you
can put in whatever material that you have and it'll
come up with what you can do with it. We
have a recycling hotline that you can call, and then
for businesses you can always just reach out to us too,
and we're happy to kind of help you evaluate what's
(04:45):
in your waste stream and then the best options of
what you can do with it and kind of make
those connections for you. Like I said, we're really here
to try and break down those barriers because it is
always a little bit more difficult than you had expected
to be.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, you got to make a plan. You got to say, Okay,
I've got paint batteries, my grandmother's old rocking chair, and
all of my kids closed from twenty five years ago.
What do I do? You know, you have to go
to four different places a lot of times, and as
a resource there, you guys make it easy to kind
of figure out where you need to go and how
to get there. What's the website so we can let
(05:19):
people know what that is.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh absolutely so. Our website is Hamilton County Resource dot org.
And then we'll have tabs on there for residents, for businesses, communities,
and you kind of just go to whatever you fall
into and it shows all our resources.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
What is the harm with the landfill? Filling up.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So that's a really good question. There's a few different reasons. First,
no one really loves to live next to a landfill,
so it's really important for us to try and conserve
as much space as we can and the ones that
already exist. The other thing, like with organic material, it
doesn't break down in the way that you think when
(06:00):
it goes to the landfill. So you know, if you
were to put a banana peel outside, that's naturally going
to degrade and break down fairly quickly. But when you
put it in a landfill, you are you know, squeezing
as much as you can into that landfill. So there's
you know, all the air kind of gets taken out,
and so there's no oxygen for that that organic material
(06:24):
to break down as it naturally would, so a takes
a lot longer to break down than people think it would.
And then it also releases methane, which is a more
powerful greenhouse gas. So that's why, particularly with organics, we're
really trying to do a lot to keep that out
from the landfill. And then, like I said, it's it's
(06:44):
also a valuable material if we are able to rescue
the food for people that need it. We estimate that
it's about three hundred and twelve I think million dollars
in wasted food that we could be rescuing.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And you're talking about commercial food, not I have leftovers
from last night's pizza pie party.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yes, absolutely so when we're talking about so the organic,
when I say food waste going to the landfill, that
does include you know, all of it. But the three
hundred and twelve million dollars is really I'm talking about
food that could like usable, healthy, you know, food that
is not yeah, not your leftovers, things that you know,
(07:24):
could you know, be near their the kind of the
date on the label that the grocery store.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Kind of best by day.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, thank you. So, so that's usually the stuff that
we're referring to when we're talking about rescuable food.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, and when you've got a business that has the
opportunity to either throw it out in their dumpster or
come up with a small plan to get that to
where could be are they reluctant to do that? Are
they just too busy, or are they like jumping on
board going yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll help you.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Usually what we see is that people are either too
busy or don't no one really even knows who's in
charge of that, So really identifying the point person of
you know, who's going to take on kind of diversion efforts,
whether that's recycling or food donation, that can be a challenge.
Usually it is that organizations want to do it. No
(08:21):
one really wants to be throwing things away or thinking
that they're throwing things away, So it's sort of just
something that's often hidden, like people just don't realize what's
being thrown away at their organization, or no one really
knows who who is really taking charge of that initiative.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Who you're going to call Mary, You're gonna call h
Hamilton County Resource here in the Tri State. I'm speaking
with Mary Copenbaker. She is the assistant Solid waste manager
for Hamilton County Resource and they are trying to get
the word out for folks that a lot of what
we put in the landfill doesn't need to go there,
and there are other places that it can be diverted
(08:58):
which will help people and also reduce those nasty landfills
that nobody wants to live next to or be downwind of.
So what were you most surprised about in your data?
When you did this new study.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The most surprising thing was one still the amount of
organic material that we could be diverting, but then also
there's some other kind of low hanging fruit as well.
So the commercial sector in general still about twenty two
percent of what they're sending to the landfill is paper
and cardboard, and those are materials that absolutely are are indivertible.
(09:36):
So when it comes to cardboard, if a business is
generating a lot of it, we have funding through our office,
through our Waste Reduction Innovation Grant, where we can help
fund bailers and so that you could actually bail that
material and then sell it back into the market yourself,
or we can help you get set up, you know,
with a cardboard recycling dumpster. So that's another one where
(09:57):
it's a significant amount that's you know, to the landfill,
and really one that's not overly overly difficult to keep out.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Do the big box stores and the hospitals already have
those things pretty much in place, great question.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
We ran actually a hospital round table where we worked
with a lot of the larger hospitals in our region,
and cardboard was definitely one where they either had a
Baylor or compactory usually already in sight. It was really
doing a lot of education with employees at hospitals about
and the janitorial staff of making sure that contamination didn't
(10:34):
get in with the cardboard. And so that is something
else that we do through Hamilton County Resources, a lot
of employee and staff education. We're always happy to come
in and do lunch and learns. We've done trainings for
janitorial crews, even just kind of like a five minute
little spiel about what's respecable at all staff meetings.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Things like that, I'm guessing you have posters and such
that you can put up in your arts in a workplace.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
We offer free interior recycling containers for any business that
starts or expands the recycling program, and with those come
we put stickers all over them about what's recyclable, and
then we provide signage as well.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Okay, one thing that drives me crazy is coffee grounds.
What are we supposed to do with coffee grounds?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's a great question. Coffee grounds are a wonderful compost amendment.
If you have a backyard and you're able to start
a backyard compost system, We do a backyard Composting series
each year. Our outreach specialist Elise runs those so you
can learn more about backyard composting. We also do a
(11:42):
compost binsale for residents where you can purchase a compost
bin at a reduced rate, so that series usually happens
in the spring. But you can also request education seminars
from us at any time, so if you wanted a
lease to come out and do a backyard composting series,
you can request to have her do one at any point.
(12:02):
And then there are also food scrap drop offs that
are kind of popping up around the county and on
our website we have a map of where you can
sign up for a food scrap drop off, and that's
essentially where you can take your food scraps to essentially
like a cart where you put your food scraps in
and then a haller like Queen City Comments or Goes
(12:24):
zero picks those up and takes them to be composted.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
The other question I have for you is, and this
was a story I saw several years ago and I
had to research it to try to refresh my memory.
But this was where people were recycling their plastic bags
and thinking that they were going to be recycled. And
then this story explained how in Asia they started sending
(12:49):
all of that stuff over to China. China finally said
like six eight years ago, and now I'll stop sending it.
So now they're sending it to all these other countries
and they're not recign them, they're dumping them. And they
showed video of these enormous piles of plastic bags, and
I just got kind of sick to my stomach. I thought,
oh my gosh, here we are thinking that we're doing
this right thing, but we are complicit in dumping this
(13:13):
on these poor people in other countries whose government has
just designated their place as a place to take it.
So what to explain the plastic bag problem and how
it's actually handled here in Hamilton County if there's a
place for people to go and get it done and
know that it's not going to be dumped on somebody else.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So that's a really good point, and I'm glad you
brought it up, because there's a lot of times, a
lot of misconceptions and concern around recycling and recycling and
products where things go. So I'm going to answer that
kind of in two parts. One talking about kind of
general recycling like with commingled recycling, So all of our
material when we're talking about like curbside recycling or if
(13:57):
you take things to a recycling drop off, typical plastic bottles, cans,
things like that, that all goes to Rumky's Material and
Recovery facility in Saint Bernard and they have local outlets
primarily for where that material goes. So everything that you
are sending there, as long as it's on the list
of what's recyclable through Rumky, definitely gets recycled. And we
(14:21):
have kind of good transparency with Rumky about kind of
where that material goes and feel confident about it. When
you're talking about things like specialty plastics with plastic bags,
that is where things can get a little bit less
transparent of where things are going, but there are still
local outlets where you can take them and feel more
confident of where they're going. So a good option of
(14:43):
where to take plastic film is the Cincinnati Recycling and
Reuse Hub, So they are kind of a clearing house
of where you can take multiple items for recycling and reuse,
but they're always pretty transparent about where they take things,
so they accept plastic film. The box stores do as well,
but we have less a little bit less knowledge about
where that plastic film goes. And then there's also the
(15:06):
Hefty renew program, So that's where you can get a
special plastic orange bag at grocery stores where you can
put specialty plastics in them, like plastic film, plastic cutlery,
things that you can't put in your general recycling cart,
you can put them in this special bag and then
you can put it in your recycling cart. It goes
(15:26):
to Ronky, they pull it off and they send it
to special recyclers that can handle.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, that's good. To one of the places you just
talked about, Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub. I had come
across from a friend who recommended it, and that is
a tremendous resources people that just donate all this reusable
stuff and you can just go in and get it
for free.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
What. Yeah, absolutely, you can go in and they have
like a little reuse section that you're able to take
things from, which is which is wonderful. And then yeah,
they have a whole kind of multiple things that you
can take for recycling. There are absolutely one where I
mentioned that search tool that we have on our website
where if you put in plastic film or plastic bags
(16:08):
that they would pop up as an outlet.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So this sustainabilogy pledge that you launched, tell me a
little bit about that as we wrap things up here today.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
The idea behind our sustainability pledge, it's called one Pledge,
can do a ton of good, and knowing that the
majority of the waste going to the landfill in Hamilton
County comes from the commercial sector, we wanted to give
businesses a way to show a public commitment to waste diversion.
So really what the pledge states is that a business
(16:40):
will take just one new step towards waste diversion, and
then we give a whole bunch of potential actions that
a business can take. It can be as simple as
starting a recycling program for the first time or doing
a waste on it with us, so there's a whole
host of things that they can do. Every action that
we put on there corresponds to a program that we
have at Hamilton County Resource, so it'll automatically connect you
(17:02):
with us as a resource and the programs that we have.
So each action is something that we can help you
help you achieve.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And so you do that online.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yes, So if you go to Hamilton County Resource dot org,
it'll pop up as a little pop up box in
the bottom right corner and you can click it and
sign the pledge and it's pretty easy to do and
then we'll reach out to you.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
That is a really easy way to do this. It's
kind of like to contact us. You just tell us
what you need and we'll be in touch exactly. Is
there anything else you want to chat about here before we.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Go, Mary, Just to reiterate that, like I said, we
exist to be a resource when it comes to waste.
So whether you're a resident, a community, or a business,
please feel free to reach out to us with any
questions that you have. That's why we exist. We want
to be a useful resource and to answer your questions.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
And that is Hamilton County Resource. They're online. This is
Mary Copenbaker who took some time out today. Is the
assistant Solid Waste Manager and doing good things to try
to get those landfills less full and more used products
back to where they can do some help. So thanks Mary, Yes,
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Sandy.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
We've got a great idea for our Father's Day gift
for next weekend that's coming up next On iHeart Sinsey
We're talking about the Hamilton County Resource. This great organization
here in the county recently turned Earth Month into a
call to action. They're bringing together business leaders, nonprofits, and
county commissioners to launch this first ever Resource Pledge Day
that they had the event highlighting this new study that
(00:21):
they put together that shows as much as eighty four
percent of commercial waste can be diverted from landfills. In
other words, eighty four percent of that stuff shouldn't be
going in there, and they've unveiled a new funding source
to help rescue surplus food from the landfill and not
throw it away. So joining us to talk about the
(00:43):
findings of this new study, plus the effort by businesses
and individuals to improve these dumbers and what it all
means for businesses in the environment is Mary Copenbaker. She
is the assistant Solid Waste Manager for Hamilton County Resource.
Thanks for being on the show and sharing all your knowledge. Mary,
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We're all in spring cleaning mode, some of us still are,
and the hardest part is getting rid of your stuff.
You know, some can be reused, as we know a
lot can be recycled for what you're telling us and repurposed.
Tell us about Hamilton County Resource, the program and what
your findings are with this new study.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, absolutely, So, Hamilton County Resource is a local government agency.
We are a solid waste district, So in Ohio, every
county has to have or be a part of a
solid waste district, and our entire mission is just to
keep material from going to the landfill. But we're largely
non regulatory, so in order to kind of achieve that mission,
(01:42):
we create programs for different audiences that help kind of
incentivize and support waste diversion efforts. So we do waste
characterization studies of the landfill in Hamilton County every few years,
both residentially and more recently we've done a commerce one
as well. So residentially, we know that about sixty nine
(02:03):
percent of what residents are sending to the landfill could
be diverted in some way, and then that number is
even higher when we're talking about commercial, so it's anywhere
from sixty seven to eighty four percent depending on the
type of business that it is. So restaurants are the
one where it's eighty four percent, but somewhere in that
you know, seventy to eighty percent range is material that
(02:25):
could be diverted. So we have a whole bunch of
programs really to try and help with education around what
you know you could do with that material, but then
also programs that help kind of support those efforts as well.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
So in my mind, when you're wrapping something up, you're
cleaning your house, you're cleaning out your offices, you're cleaning
out your nonprofit, you really are just thinking about getting
it done and getting it out of there. But you're saying,
there's so many resources, you really need to plan ahead
to figure out where this stuff is going to go.
Some people have the luxury to do that, others don't.
(03:00):
So let's make it easier for people to figure out,
for example, if they have you know, office supplies or
office equipment or recyclables like plastic bags that are always
talking about what is it? What is it that you're
trying to get out of the landfills great question.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So that's a great lead in because it can be
really confusing and difficult. And even in that number where
we're talking about, you know, sixty nine percent is divertible,
what does that even really mean? So within that kind
of diversion potential. Some of that is single stream recyclable,
so things that you know you could put curbside are
out in a recycling dumpster. Another good chunk is organic material,
(03:37):
and that's a really big focus for our office, where
we know that about one hundred over one hundred and
thirty eight thousand tons of food goes to our landfill
each year, and that's food that could a large portion
of that is food that could go to feeding hungry people.
It's food that's usable, food that could be donated, and
we have a great food rescue network here in Hamilton County.
(04:00):
And then another portion of that divertle material is our
items that could go for reuse or specialty recycling. So
those would be things that you could take to reuse
organizations like Goodwill or specialty recycling like electronics and metal.
But obviously that's a lot to think through, like you
just mentioned, and so that's really what our office exists
(04:23):
to do. I like to say that we act like
free waste consultants. So if you you know, as a resident,
we have a search tool on our website where you
can put in whatever material that you have and it'll
come up with what you can do with it. We
have a recycling hotline that you can call, and then
for businesses you can always just reach out to us too,
and we're happy to kind of help you evaluate what's
(04:45):
in your waste stream and then the best options of
what you can do with it and kind of make
those connections for you. Like I said, we're really here
to try and break down those barriers because it is
always a little bit more difficult than you had expected
to be.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, you got to make a plan. You got to say, Okay,
I've got paint batteries, my grandmother's old rocking chair, and
all of my kids closed from twenty five years ago.
What do I do? You know, you have to go
to four different places a lot of times, and as
a resource there, you guys make it easy to kind
of figure out where you need to go and how
to get there. What's the website so we can let
(05:19):
people know what that is.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh absolutely so. Our website is Hamilton County Resource dot org.
And then we'll have tabs on there for residents, for businesses, communities,
and you kind of just go to whatever you fall
into and it shows all our resources.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
What is the harm with the landfill? Filling up.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So that's a really good question. There's a few different reasons. First,
no one really loves to live next to a landfill,
so it's really important for us to try and conserve
as much space as we can and the ones that
already exist. The other thing, like with organic material, it
doesn't break down in the way that you think when
(06:00):
it goes to the landfill. So you know, if you
were to put a banana peel outside, that's naturally going
to degrade and break down fairly quickly. But when you
put it in a landfill, you are you know, squeezing
as much as you can into that landfill. So there's
you know, all the air kind of gets taken out,
and so there's no oxygen for that that organic material
(06:24):
to break down as it naturally would, so a takes
a lot longer to break down than people think it would.
And then it also releases methane, which is a more
powerful greenhouse gas. So that's why, particularly with organics, we're
really trying to do a lot to keep that out
from the landfill. And then, like I said, it's it's
(06:44):
also a valuable material if we are able to rescue
the food for people that need it. We estimate that
it's about three hundred and twelve I think million dollars
in wasted food that we could be rescuing.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And you're talking about commercial food, not I have leftovers
from last night's pizza pie party.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yes, absolutely so when we're talking about so the organic,
when I say food waste going to the landfill, that
does include you know, all of it. But the three
hundred and twelve million dollars is really I'm talking about
food that could like usable, healthy, you know, food that
is not yeah, not your leftovers, things that you know,
(07:24):
could you know, be near their the kind of the
date on the label that the grocery store.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Kind of best by day.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, thank you. So, so that's usually the stuff that
we're referring to when we're talking about rescuable food.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, and when you've got a business that has the
opportunity to either throw it out in their dumpster or
come up with a small plan to get that to
where could be are they reluctant to do that? Are
they just too busy, or are they like jumping on
board going yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll help you.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Usually what we see is that people are either too
busy or don't no one really even knows who's in
charge of that, So really identifying the point person of
you know, who's going to take on kind of diversion efforts,
whether that's recycling or food donation, that can be a challenge.
Usually it is that organizations want to do it. No
(08:21):
one really wants to be throwing things away or thinking
that they're throwing things away, So it's sort of just
something that's often hidden, like people just don't realize what's
being thrown away at their organization, or no one really
knows who who is really taking charge of that initiative.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Who you're going to call Mary, You're gonna call h
Hamilton County Resource here in the Tri State. I'm speaking
with Mary Copenbaker. She is the assistant Solid waste manager
for Hamilton County Resource and they are trying to get
the word out for folks that a lot of what
we put in the landfill doesn't need to go there,
and there are other places that it can be diverted
(08:58):
which will help people and also reduce those nasty landfills
that nobody wants to live next to or be downwind of.
So what were you most surprised about in your data?
When you did this new study.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The most surprising thing was one still the amount of
organic material that we could be diverting, but then also
there's some other kind of low hanging fruit as well.
So the commercial sector in general still about twenty two
percent of what they're sending to the landfill is paper
and cardboard, and those are materials that absolutely are are indivertible.
(09:36):
So when it comes to cardboard, if a business is
generating a lot of it, we have funding through our office,
through our Waste Reduction Innovation Grant, where we can help
fund bailers and so that you could actually bail that
material and then sell it back into the market yourself,
or we can help you get set up, you know,
with a cardboard recycling dumpster. So that's another one where
(09:57):
it's a significant amount that's you know, to the landfill,
and really one that's not overly overly difficult to keep out.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Do the big box stores and the hospitals already have
those things pretty much in place, great question.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
We ran actually a hospital round table where we worked
with a lot of the larger hospitals in our region,
and cardboard was definitely one where they either had a
Baylor or compactory usually already in sight. It was really
doing a lot of education with employees at hospitals about
and the janitorial staff of making sure that contamination didn't
(10:34):
get in with the cardboard. And so that is something
else that we do through Hamilton County Resources, a lot
of employee and staff education. We're always happy to come
in and do lunch and learns. We've done trainings for
janitorial crews, even just kind of like a five minute
little spiel about what's respecable at all staff meetings.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Things like that, I'm guessing you have posters and such
that you can put up in your arts in a workplace.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
We offer free interior recycling containers for any business that
starts or expands the recycling program, and with those come
we put stickers all over them about what's recyclable, and
then we provide signage as well.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Okay, one thing that drives me crazy is coffee grounds.
What are we supposed to do with coffee grounds?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That's a great question. Coffee grounds are a wonderful compost amendment.
If you have a backyard and you're able to start
a backyard compost system, We do a backyard Composting series
each year. Our outreach specialist Elise runs those so you
can learn more about backyard composting. We also do a
(11:42):
compost binsale for residents where you can purchase a compost
bin at a reduced rate, so that series usually happens
in the spring. But you can also request education seminars
from us at any time, so if you wanted a
lease to come out and do a backyard composting series,
you can request to have her do one at any point.
(12:02):
And then there are also food scrap drop offs that
are kind of popping up around the county and on
our website we have a map of where you can
sign up for a food scrap drop off, and that's
essentially where you can take your food scraps to essentially
like a cart where you put your food scraps in
and then a haller like Queen City Comments or Goes
(12:24):
zero picks those up and takes them to be composted.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
The other question I have for you is, and this
was a story I saw several years ago and I
had to research it to try to refresh my memory.
But this was where people were recycling their plastic bags
and thinking that they were going to be recycled. And
then this story explained how in Asia they started sending
(12:49):
all of that stuff over to China. China finally said
like six eight years ago, and now I'll stop sending it.
So now they're sending it to all these other countries
and they're not recign them, they're dumping them. And they
showed video of these enormous piles of plastic bags, and
I just got kind of sick to my stomach. I thought,
oh my gosh, here we are thinking that we're doing
this right thing, but we are complicit in dumping this
(13:13):
on these poor people in other countries whose government has
just designated their place as a place to take it.
So what to explain the plastic bag problem and how
it's actually handled here in Hamilton County if there's a
place for people to go and get it done and
know that it's not going to be dumped on somebody else.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So that's a really good point, and I'm glad you
brought it up, because there's a lot of times, a
lot of misconceptions and concern around recycling and recycling and
products where things go. So I'm going to answer that
kind of in two parts. One talking about kind of
general recycling like with commingled recycling, So all of our
material when we're talking about like curbside recycling or if
(13:57):
you take things to a recycling drop off, typical plastic bottles, cans,
things like that, that all goes to Rumky's Material and
Recovery facility in Saint Bernard and they have local outlets
primarily for where that material goes. So everything that you
are sending there, as long as it's on the list
of what's recyclable through Rumky, definitely gets recycled. And we
(14:21):
have kind of good transparency with Rumky about kind of
where that material goes and feel confident about it. When
you're talking about things like specialty plastics with plastic bags,
that is where things can get a little bit less
transparent of where things are going, but there are still
local outlets where you can take them and feel more
confident of where they're going. So a good option of
(14:43):
where to take plastic film is the Cincinnati Recycling and
Reuse Hub, So they are kind of a clearing house
of where you can take multiple items for recycling and reuse,
but they're always pretty transparent about where they take things,
so they accept plastic film. The box stores do as well,
but we have less a little bit less knowledge about
where that plastic film goes. And then there's also the
(15:06):
Hefty renew program, So that's where you can get a
special plastic orange bag at grocery stores where you can
put specialty plastics in them, like plastic film, plastic cutlery,
things that you can't put in your general recycling cart,
you can put them in this special bag and then
you can put it in your recycling cart. It goes
(15:26):
to Ronky, they pull it off and they send it
to special recyclers that can handle.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well, that's good. To one of the places you just
talked about, Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub. I had come
across from a friend who recommended it, and that is
a tremendous resources people that just donate all this reusable
stuff and you can just go in and get it
for free.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
What. Yeah, absolutely, you can go in and they have
like a little reuse section that you're able to take
things from, which is which is wonderful. And then yeah,
they have a whole kind of multiple things that you
can take for recycling. There are absolutely one where I
mentioned that search tool that we have on our website
where if you put in plastic film or plastic bags
(16:08):
that they would pop up as an outlet.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So this sustainabilogy pledge that you launched, tell me a
little bit about that as we wrap things up here today.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
The idea behind our sustainability pledge, it's called one Pledge,
can do a ton of good, and knowing that the
majority of the waste going to the landfill in Hamilton
County comes from the commercial sector, we wanted to give
businesses a way to show a public commitment to waste diversion.
So really what the pledge states is that a business
(16:40):
will take just one new step towards waste diversion, and
then we give a whole bunch of potential actions that
a business can take. It can be as simple as
starting a recycling program for the first time or doing
a waste on it with us, so there's a whole
host of things that they can do. Every action that
we put on there corresponds to a program that we
have at Hamilton County Resource, so it'll automatically connect you
(17:02):
with us as a resource and the programs that we have.
So each action is something that we can help you
help you achieve.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And so you do that online.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yes, So if you go to Hamilton County Resource dot org,
it'll pop up as a little pop up box in
the bottom right corner and you can click it and
sign the pledge and it's pretty easy to do and
then we'll reach out to you.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
That is a really easy way to do this. It's
kind of like to contact us. You just tell us
what you need and we'll be in touch exactly. Is
there anything else you want to chat about here before we.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Go, Mary, Just to reiterate that, like I said, we
exist to be a resource when it comes to waste.
So whether you're a resident, a community, or a business,
please feel free to reach out to us with any
questions that you have. That's why we exist. We want
to be a useful resource and to answer your questions.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
And that is Hamilton County Resource. They're online. This is
Mary Copenbaker who took some time out today. Is the
assistant Solid Waste Manager and doing good things to try
to get those landfills less full and more used products
back to where they can do some help. So thanks Mary, Yes,
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Sandy.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
We've got a great idea for our Father's Day gift
for next weekend that's coming up next On iHeart Sinsey
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