SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): The City of Columbus has announced expansion of residential recycling, by switching from biweekly collection to weekly collection schedule. The proposed weekly service will commence from June 12th.
The expanded service is aimed at delivering significant boost to recyclable collection by the city. The move is expected to increase the recyclable collection by 25-40%. Consequently, the increased collection would mean that larger volumes of materials are diverted from landfills and used for manufacturing purposes. As per estimates, nearly 95% of locally collected recyclables goes as input to businesses. A large proportion of these materials are used as raw materials by manufacturers in Ohio and the U.S. Midwest region.
The residential recycling expansion is part of efforts to divert 95% of recyclables from landfills and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The Department of Public Service’s Refuse Collection Division has been working with recycling collection partner Rumpke Waste & Recycling on implementing the weekly recycling pickup schedule since the same was proposed in the 2023 operating budget.
Jennifer Gallagher, public service director noted that it will continuously strive to provide exceptional core service delivery to residents and neighborhoods and that weekly recycling is just one important step towards that goal.