RECYCOLUMBUS

The Most Impactful Initiative

Correspondingly, every region of Columbus has done outstanding things to better the community. One of the most impactful initiatives is RecyColumbus. RecyColumbus is a residential recycling program that started with giving residents sixty-four-gallon blue recycling carts. By June of 2012, the first of five geographic regions of the city were receiving their first recycling collection which then alternated every other week with yard waste collection. Even the residents who were not eligible to participate in the program continued recycling by depositing over 16,000 tons of material at one of the two hundred drop box locations or by requesting service through a hauler. Through this program, more than 49,000 tons of material was diverted, making the residential diversion rate 20%. But the program did not just stop at the residents, the city staff in numerous departments used a variety of ways to help recycle. Some of their methods included recycling asphalt from resurfacing projects to repair potholes, berms and shoulders, using beet juice instead of salt in order to help melt snow and ice on roadways, implementing a paperless pay system in 2012 in Human Resources, and distributing drain tiles and other materials to gardeners and landscapers to use as planters rather than disposing them.[1]

[1] “Environmental Stewardship in Columbus: Overview,” Columbus Office of Environmental Sustainability 2012 Annual Report, 9, https://www.columbus.gov/uploadedFiles/Columbus/Programs/Get_Green/Progress_Report/Get%20Green%20Annual%20Report%202014(2).pdf