Shownotes
Discover how each of us can contribute to keeping our neighborhoods cleaner, our environment safer, and our economy thriving—one recycled can, bottle, and newspaper.
We are joined by Amy Densborn, Program Manager at SWACO—the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio. While trash and landfills aren’t always easy or exciting topics, SWACO’s pioneering efforts are transforming what we throw away into resources that power local communities, spark new markets, and build a greener future.
Together, we dig into the incredible breadth of SWACO’s programs—from recycling and composting in homes, businesses, and schools, to exciting partnerships that reclaim everything from sports gear to textiles.
Amy Densborn shares personal insights, practical tips, and the fascinating backstory behind her passion for materials management. Whether you’re wondering what happens to your recyclables, seeking ways to cut down on waste, or curious about the future of sustainability in Ohio, this episode has you covered.
If you like this episode, please let us know. We appreciate the feed back, and your support of offset costs of producing the podcast!
Here are 3 key takeaways every homeowner, business, and community leader should know:
- The Power of Community Recycling: SWACO supports more than 97% of single-family households with access to recycling programs in Franklin County. They help bridge the gap for multifamily residences through public drop-off sites, making recycling accessible for all.
- Innovative Partnerships & Programs: From textile recycling pilots that keep thousands of pounds of clothing out of landfills, to collaborations with nonprofits like Level the Playing Field to repurpose sports equipment—SWACO’s creative partnerships drive real community and economic impact.
- Education Drives Change: There’s a myth that recycling doesn’t matter—but it’s alive and well in Central Ohio! SWACO invests in educational outreach, partners with local haulers, and uses technology (even AI-enabled truck cameras!) to help residents recycle smarter and more often.
Key Moments
00:00 SWACO's Impact on Trash Crisis
06:07 "Advancing Recycling Access"
08:47 "Recycling Policy for Multifamily Housing"
12:17 Franklin County Recycling Efforts
14:31 "Recycling Myths Debunked"
18:10 Landfill Tours & Battery Safety
20:27 Switch to Rechargeable Batteries
23:49 Accessible Athletic Gear for Kids
28:24 Domestic Clothing Recycling Pilot
29:55 "Community Recycling and Sustainability Efforts"
33:56 China’s Recycling Ban Impact
38:39 "Final Thoughts on Waste Reduction"
41:29 "Reusable Hazardous Waste Initiative"
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Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle 270 Media® Podcast Consultants.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Copyright 2026 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson
Mentioned in this episode:
Listener Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the experts interviewed on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast hosts or any affiliated organizations. The information provided in these interviews is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals for specific advice or information related to their individual circumstances. The podcast host and producers do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided by the experts interviewed. Listener discretion is advised.
Transcripts
We are looking forward our way. Hi, this is Brett. No one wants to discuss trash and we certainly don't want to hear about landfills. But today we're going to focus on healthy living that comes from the successful programs created by the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, or affectionately known as SWACO. Amy Densborne is our expert guest. She's the program manager at SWACO. She's going to provide tips, tricks on how we can create a healthy, sustainable home for, for our families. Thanks for joining us, Amy.
Amy Densborn [:Thanks for having me, Brett.
Carol Ventresca [:Yeah, Amy, it's great to meet you. As we mentioned when we were talking before the podcast, we have mutual friends in Amy's SWACO colleagues and so a shout out to both Hannah and Tyler for helping us make this happen today and get Amy in on our schedule. So thank you again for your time and your expertise. You granted, as Brett mentioned, nobody wants to talk about trash, but there are some really wonderful programs that SWACO is doing and I think a lot of times, you know, your light is still under the bushel. Even with all the publicity and everything that you all do, folks don't realize the value what you're doing in terms of breadth and depth of programs, but the value that it brings to our community. So again, a our thanks for you coming to join us today. SUCO has really transformed our communities through the diverse programs for safe disposal efforts. We have tons and tons of trash that's going to the landfill and our consumer driven world has created this crisis.
Carol Ventresca [:We have so much to discuss today. We want to hear about it all. But before we get started on Swaco, we want to hear more about you, your backgr, what brought you to Swaco and tell us a little bit about Amy.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, thanks, Carol. So I really, I have been a trash enthusiast since I was a little girl.
Brett Johnson [:I was just gonna say, does someone actually, when they're young, think they want to get into trash? Me and you did. That's interesting.
Amy Densborn [:You know, it was my grandma, it was my grandmother who grew up during the Great Depression and she was such a materials management person and just being really thoughtful about all the items that are in our house, how we use material to their full potential. We don't discard anything. And as a little girl, I might have thought that that was a little over the top, maybe especially as a teenager, you know, when you go through.
Carol Ventresca [:Those phases, it's okay to throw away foil paper.
Amy Densborn [:Exactly. You know what I'm talking about. But as I got older, I really started to rethink grandma's ways and how wise she was to really use things to their full potential. And I was a recycler when I was a little girl. I was that kid that came home after learning about it in school and got my parents to do it. Let's do. Why aren't we recycling? Let's get those cans. Yeah.
Amy Densborn [:Cans and bottles in the recycling bed. No, go to the landfill. And everyone was on board, thank goodness. But it really just developed and flourished. And I started out in a field of natural resource conservation. I was a wildlife biologist kind of. Kind of in the same light. Right.
Amy Densborn [:Like I wanted to help preserve the environment for the animals, for them to have the habitat and to make sure we're protecting their natural resources. And then it slowly transitioned into a full blown love of waste diversion programs and recycling and composting.
Brett Johnson [:Wow.
Carol Ventresca [:When you think about when recycling first started, no one thought of it in terms of a career path. So going into natural resources made sense at that point in time that you would look at the environmental impact of are consumering. Consumer ing, if that's the word. Yeah, consumerism. But the other. I was thinking about you this past week. I love the reels on Facebook about people who go to Goodwill.
Amy Densborn [:Me too.
Carol Ventresca [:It just cracks me up what people can get at Goodwill, go home, refurbish it in like two minutes, if that long, and then make $100 off of it. But that's really when you think about Goodwill's been in recycling for a long time because it's kept all of that stuff that they make money on to help people help their clients. But it's kept it out of the landfill.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah. And it's provided a convenient solution for us when we upgrade with our things around our house and we want to be able to do good in our community, we can drop those, those items off conveniently around us, you know, within 5 to 10 mile radius of our homes. And we know that most of the time that material is going to go on to be used by somebody else. So it's a feel good feeling too for us as consumers who have those items in our house.
Carol Ventresca [:I remember when I went to work at Employment for Seniors, I needed a bookcase. So I went to Habitats Restore, found a bookcase over there. And then when I redid lights in my house, I brought the lights to them and somebody got them. Yeah, exactly. So wonderful. Thank you again.
Brett Johnson [:So nearly 40 years ago, state of Ohio created the Solid Waste District system to better control waste diversion and to help communities reduce their dependence on landfills. We're basically going to run out of disposable land to manage all that we discard. Where were we 40 years ago and what challenges occurred and have we been successful in reducing that flow to the landfill?
Amy Densborn [:It's a great question. It's a complicated one that I'll try to address here. Yeah, I will say that really the goal of a solid waste district is to develop programs that seek to reduce reliance on landfill. So that is Swaco's job in a nutshell. And so we have an array of recycling and composting programs for nonprofits, communities, schools, businesses even. We want to even help the commercial sector reduce their reliance on the landfill because they're 60% of the waste stream. And believe it or not, they need help recycling their cans, bottles, and cardboard. And so we provide that technical assistance through, you know, educational talks.
Amy Densborn [:We come out, we do waste audits, we provide the financial assistance that they need to get a sustainable program off the ground. And so there has been real movement in the last 40 years when it comes to recycling. Your. Your basics, I think it's 97% of single family households in our county have access to recycling now, which is a huge accomplishment to have. That is kind of unheard of for a major, a major city, a major metropolitan. Where there is room for improvement is with multifamily units. So think your apartments and your condos. Only one in four of those units have access to recycling on their property right now.
Carol Ventresca [:That's interesting because I live in a condominium. We don't have recycling to our door, but the recycling spot for us, for the township, is like two blocks away. So I don't have a lot of excuses to not recycle. It's right there.
Amy Densborn [:Well, that's nice that you have it within two blocks. I. I mean, that's. While it's not on your property, it sounds like it's still pretty easy to get to. Maybe on your way to, like the grocery store.
Carol Ventresca [:Exactly, exactly. It's at. It's at the township maintenance where they keep the, like, salt and all of that. The salt barns for, for Genoa Township where I live. And so I'm, you know, literally two streets away, so I could just pop over there, drop stuff off, and then run to the grocery store. Exactly.
Amy Densborn [:And SWACO has a very similar model here in Franklin county. That's who. 1.3 million residents, 41 communities and growing. You know, there's more and more people moving to Columbus, Ohio, all the time, which is great for our economy, but those multifamily units are Becoming more and more prevalent. More apartments, more condos. And we really hope that when they start to build their facilities, they can incorporate a recycling infrastructure from the get go instead of trying to retrofit it after the fact. And if not, if that's not something that can be done. SWACO wants to fill the gap through our public recycling drop off program.
Amy Densborn [:So we have 54 sites. We're always looking to bring on more locations around the county. So folks like yourself who live in a condo sounds like you're already utilizing this service and where you live, they have a convenient location to take their recyclables, even if their condo doesn't offer it.
Carol Ventresca [:So does SWACO have the opportunity to, I don't want to say interfere, but, you know, get in on the planning of these organizations? Do they contact you or, you know, if they're getting tax abatements? Is SWACO part of the. Well, you get a tax abatement, but you also got to do this.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, it's a good question and it's. It's not an easy one to address. What I will say that could help a lot with the, the infrastructure issue and developing recycling from the get go would be a policy change that required any new multifamily property to implement recycling and to have space for recycling from the get go. No such ordinances exist at this time. So I think the. Maybe the only community that has a policy in place is Bexley. I know there's other communities that are looking to explore that opportunity, but we are a county wide, solid WIS District. We really try not to get involved when it comes to the laws of all the other communities.
Amy Densborn [:We try to be a support system, a facilitator and provide that technical assistance. So. But you're absolutely right. It would certainly help if there was policy in place to make it so apartments had to implement recycling. I will also say we do have multifamily recycling resources available to landlords and apartments who want to. They have recycling and maybe they just need some more educational materials. We provide signage, we give new dumpster decals. We'll even provide the tenants with bags for them to collect the recyclables in to then take them out to the dumpster.
Amy Densborn [:So we have the resources and someone that can provide that technical assistance. They just need to reach out to us.
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Carol Ventresca [:And really we're recycling overall. I'm not saying that this is all under sueco, but recycling overall is not just pop bottles or wine bottles. We're talking about toxic waste and metal that can go to a junkyard and you can actually make money on it. I mean, there are so many things that we are throwing away that we really could be diverted to another location.
Amy Densborn [:Absolutely. So 76% of what comes to our landfill in Franklin county could have been reduced, reused, or recycled. It really doesn't belong in the landfill.
Carol Ventresca [:76%.
Amy Densborn [:76% of it. And we do a waste audit where we really go through everybody's trash in the county. We're getting ready to do it again, and we determine, like, what are people throwing away in their garbage? And the number one source of material is food waste. It equals 15% of the total waste stream, or a million pounds a day. So that's a real missed opportunity. Some of the food is edible. Does it really belong in our trash if it's edible? We don't think so. Why, why couldn't that food go be rescued and be delivered to someone who is hungry in our community, the food that is inedible, that can't be rescued, not deemed.
Amy Densborn [:Not deemed valuable to humans. Why not find a composting solution? And so SWACO is working to bring composting infrastructure and such in the next few years to the county. Right now, most of the food scraps go outside the county to be composted. But a local option would be our preference. Less carbon emissions, trucking around the material. And we hope it would be even more convenient for haulers to move compostables to the facility.
Carol Ventresca [:It's a little scary to think all that you are doing has reduced it only 25%.
Amy Densborn [:Well, I see where you're saying in.
Carol Ventresca [:Terms of what's going in, maybe that's a kind of an apples and oranges sort of comparison. But, I mean, that's a lot of effort on SWACO's part. And we're still throwing stuff away. We shouldn't be.
Amy Densborn [:Well, I. I see how you. How you think of it in that way, but we do have a growing population as well.
Carol Ventresca [:True.
Amy Densborn [:More people typically means more waste, right?
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Amy Densborn [:So the average Franklin county resident produces around nine pounds of trash a day. Now, half of that's going to go on to be recycled or composted, but the other half makes its way to our local landfill in Franklin County, Dodd and Grove City. And so we are constantly trying to think about new educational campaigns of how we can get into the minds of consumers and help motivate them to recycle and compost. Go to the convenience center that we operate that takes all those items that you just referenced, things like hazardous Materials like paint and light bulbs and batteries and the harder to recycle things like styrofoam and scrap metal and appliances. So. But it takes all of us being a part of it and not just the residents, but also our commercial businesses too, our multifamily properties, our schools, our buildings, our office spaces. Right. Our warehouses.
Amy Densborn [:It really is all of us coming together to participate in those programs.
Carol Ventresca [:I think the most fun thing that our, our township doesn't, I think this is happening all over the place. It's been going on for a few years. Our Christmas light strands that no longer work, that can be collected at a recycling area so that it stays out of your machinery.
Amy Densborn [:Yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah. Many communities in our region do a holiday light like string light return. They have value, they have copper inside of them. They can be recovered, they can be recycled and turned into new electronics. So yeah, there's a lot of locations. If you go to our website, you can find all the locations participating in holiday light recycling this year.
Carol Ventresca [:Absolutely. So, Amy, as I mentioned, my community doesn't have an at your door recycle pickup. So many people don't bother to collect items and drive them to the disposable site, even though it's only, as I said, two blocks away. Many don't understand what recycling really is. Others don't think it's important. Give us a clearer picture of what recycling really does include and why it's so critical to our homes.
Amy Densborn [:It's a great question and it's, I think one of the biggest issues in our society right now is there's this myth going around that recycling isn't real, that it doesn't matter and that all my recycling just goes to the landfill anyway. So why would I do it? Well, that's incorrect here in our region. I can, I can verify that because there have been big investments, I'm talking $90 million investments in the recycling infrastructure right here by Rumpke Waste and Recycling. They just built a brand new facility last year to take more and more of our recyclables. And so I'm telling you right now. Would Rumpke make that investment in our region to recycle our cans and bottles if they were sending it all to the landfill? I don't think so.
Carol Ventresca [:Right.
Amy Densborn [:So when we recycle, we conserve natural resources. Many of our materials, like things like glass, they can be recycled infinitely, forever and ever. There's no maximum life on how you, how long you can recycle those. Same thing with aluminum. Aluminum can be recycled infinitely Things like plastic and paper, they do have what I call like a shelf life. They can only be recycled so many times, but it's still imperative that we recycle them to the max potential to conserve those needs resources. Right. And also think about pollution.
Amy Densborn [:Think about all the pollution that's avoided when we recycle our products versus sending them directly to the landfill. Less trucks on the road, less carbon emissions associated with trucking the material down to the landfill. And then I also think about conserving land. I know that we have a lot of land here in central Ohio, but could that land be better suited for other things? Do we need to use the land for more and more landfills to take up space for our valuable. For the materials that do have value? Now, there's absolutely a need for a landfill. You can't recycle and compost everything. Right. What are you going to do with those dirty diapers, folks? They're going to go in the landfill.
Amy Densborn [:Right. There are just some things that don't have an end market or a way to be recovered. And that's what a landfill is for. A landfill is not really for your paper, your cans and your metal.
Carol Ventresca [:Right. Well, and again, we have a lot of different opportunities to do recycling in various forms. We have shredded days that many of the communities are doing that you can get rid of. Not just you're getting rid of important paper that you don't want someone to steal your Social Security number. It's also recycling that paper.
Amy Densborn [:Absolutely.
Carol Ventresca [:After it's shredded, as we mentioned, the toxic waste. And there are places that you could go for that. City of Westerville has bins in front of their electric office, department office where you can take batteries. So I take my batteries there. So there are different ways. And again, it's like literally, okay, put the jar of batteries in the car and you can drop it off on your way to or from the grocery store. It's not like it's that far out of your way.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, we don't expect anyone to make a special trip on a weekly basis or a monthly basis to drop off these materials. I think of it like collect your materials for a little bit. Collect your batteries, your electronics, your Styrofoam for a few months and then once you have enough to make it worth it, make the drive over to drop those materials off, Right?
Brett Johnson [:Yeah, exactly. Well, it seems there are two distinct paths that recycled products will take. Either directly to the landfill or into a stream where items can be made into new products or used in some way. Can you talk more about the actual landfill process first and what should we look for and how do we get rid of it. You know, call it a trash or treasure.
Amy Densborn [:So what I'll say about the landfill is we provide tourism the landfill and I can talk about it all day long. But you know what? I think if you see it with your own eyes and you ask the questions to our in house expert, you're going to get a lot more out of it. So come and see us for a tour. But if you're not going to come down to visit the landfill, I understand essentially, really the biggest things that we don't want in the landfill, the items that can cause issues with our equipment, their safety concern would be things like lithium ion batteries, which are also end up being an issue for the recycling facility too. They start fires and they're becoming more and more prevalent in like things like hearing aids, game controllers, iPads, cell ph. I mean they are everywhere in this day and age as technology continues to advance. And so if you have lithium ion batteries in your house, I really encourage you to take them to a specialty battery recycler. Our Swaco Convenience center accepts them down off Jackson Pike.
Amy Densborn [:We also have a hazardous waste facility that takes them for free near the Ohio State Fairgrounds. Both of these locations are only for Franklin county residents. So if you're outside the county, I encourage you to check with your local solid waste district to see what programs are available to you. I also know places like Batteries plus will take them. I think they charge fees. We do not charge fees for our recycling programs, but that's another option to use. So really it's. That's the most dangerous item that could be thrown away in our trash.
Amy Densborn [:Other types of things we really don't want to see in the trash are things like latex paint and paint in general and chemicals. Those do have a location that they can go to to be safely to disposed of. The latex paint concern is it should be dried out first before we dispose of it. So mix it with kitty litter sawdust before you put it in your trash. And then toxic chemicals like pesticides, gasoline, insecticides, things like that, they should go to the hazardous waste facility to be recycled.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah, and you know, kind of going back to the batteries as well too. I think it's. We should really consider how much the earth was taken away from to create that battery. And we should try to recycle because we did some damage getting that battery, the pieces of that to mine it.
Amy Densborn [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:We probably should try to recycle it as much as we can.
Amy Densborn [:It's possible. I mean, I think that makes sense, don't you? Just to recover and recycle as much of what we've already extracted from the earth, batteries can be recycled over and over again. And the other thing is, I'd encourage you, if you don't already make the switch to rechargeable batteries. The investment upfront can be costly, switching from single use to rechargeable. But I tell you what, over the long run you'll be saving so much money because rechargeable batteries, they can be used 500 to a thousand times. So that's one of the things we try to do at our house is switch to rechargeable. And we've saved a lot of money over the years and then we don't have this constant problem of like trying to find a recycling solution for our batteries.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah, because I'm seeing now the, for the co detectors as well as the fire, you know, the smoke alarms are 10 year batteries. Now you don't have to do the 9 volt and they're becoming smaller. Yes, I've noticed. Because we had to replace one, it was 10 years old. It's like, okay, time to get new. And it's like all of a sudden it's like half the size.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Okay. They're getting smart. 10 year battery as well as smaller size. It's going to, you know, it should be recycled. But it's one of those. It makes sense. It makes sense. I'm seeing the trends in just manufacturing.
Amy Densborn [:Is interesting and it's going to continue to trend smaller and more efficient and 10 year batteries, 15 year batteries, which is great. But after that 10 year mark. What are you gonna do with that battery though?
Brett Johnson [:Get it recycled.
Amy Densborn [:You're gonna bring it to the Swaco convenience center, I hope.
Brett Johnson [:Exactly.
Amy Densborn [:Needs to go there. Yeah, for sure.
Carol Ventresca [:I took my security system battery back to batteries plus they ordered the new one for me and I was surprised that they took it.
Brett Johnson [:You know and I think the hardest part of taking it to that third party or wherever you go is the first time.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Once you do it, you kind of. Oh, now this is old hat. I mean once I started when I found a place to take electronics, like it's not that hard.
Amy Densborn [:Absolutely.
Brett Johnson [:Put in a box and you go like you said, maybe what, twice a year.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:And take all the electronics and you know, you're, you know you're doing the right thing.
Amy Densborn [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:As well.
Amy Densborn [:And, and if the barrier is figuring out where to take it, call us, we answer the phones 8, 8 o' clock to 5pm Monday through Friday. We will take that home. We'll do the homework for you. We'll tell you where to take those things. That's why we're here as a resource to Franklin county and we want to make it as easy as possible to divert your material away from the landfill.
Carol Ventresca [:Swayco has had great success in educating us on how to redirect all these items. As you said, we can still call you if we still aren't sure. But also when we see all those trucks through the neighborhoods picking up the glass and the plastic to be transformed, it's kind of exciting to know that we're contributing to our community in general. New programs have been launched, such as a partnership with the nonprofit that we actually had here on our program called Level the Playing Field. So kudos to them for doing a wonderful job recycling sports equipment. The last thing that we need in a landfill is a tennis rack at the it's perfectly usable.
Amy Densborn [:That's right.
Carol Ventresca [:And also creation of outlets to capture and divert items that are hard to recycle, such as textiles. We've had that conversation. Tell us more about some of those innovative partnerships and how are they also contributing to both our community and the economy.
Amy Densborn [:Outstanding organization. They have really a mission to make it accessible for athletic gear to get into the homes of all the kids in our community. Kids grow out of things so quickly. I, I have a two year old at home and I'm like this fit you last week and now I have to go buy you new shoes. Are you kidding me? And I can only imagine how difficult that must be when we're talking about like specialized athletic gear, gloves and cleats and you know, I could just go on and on but that can be very costly for a family. And when you are competing with all these other demands, it is really nice to have a program that you can lean on for gently used sports equipment that you know your child is going to be able to wear for the next six to eight months until they outgrow it. But that's absolutely fantastic and making it accessible. So for those of you who are not aware they have we helped we provide them with a grant to get a truck to make it so they can pick up more donations from families where their kids have outgrown these athletic materials so they can get it into the hands of other families that need that those items.
Amy Densborn [:So they have drop off centers all around the county too. If you go to the website you can find the list of the locations of all the boxes that they have where you can take your items to, to. To donate to them and level the.
Carol Ventresca [:Playing field is actually a national organization. So those of us, those of you listening to our podcast who aren't here in central Ohio, it may be in your area.
Amy Densborn [:That's right.
Carol Ventresca [:So take advantage of not only cleaning up the closets and the garage, but making it good for another kid to use. And kudos to Eric for all the work he's done.
Amy Densborn [:So the other program that I'll mention was this past summer we did a textile pilot program where it was for end of life clothing. So think about that stained T shirt that you've been holding onto for too many years or those torn towels that you're just like, I cannot let go of. I know I have a lot of them in my basement. And so what we were. The goals of the program were really to try to figure out what consumers, what types of items consumers have in Franklin county, what they're looking to recycle, and if they can sort their material based on signage and get it into the proper location. So when it comes to textile recycling, there aren't a lot of end markets right now. And the technology for sorting different material types is really not there yet. So we have to do the kind of the legwork for the sortation on our end to ensure that that material can be processed and turned into something new.
Amy Densborn [:And that's different than what we do with our commingled recycling stream. Right. It really does put the responsibility on the consumer. And we were one of the first community public facing programs in the nation to do this kind of end of life collection program, which is really exciting for the central Ohio region. And it received a lot of interest. A lot of, you know, people were really excited about it and we obviously were excited about too. But we're still receiving calls to this day about the pilot program and when it's going to come back. We were able to collect just over £27,000 of clothing.
Amy Densborn [:And then of that, about £23,000 was deemed eligible for recycling. And so it went to a textile recycler called Lee Fibers located in South Carolina. And what they do is they turn fabrics into insulation. So our particular end of life clothing was turned into cold packs for shipping of insulation to like to your home. Like if you order like medications or food, My Kitty sometimes get specialty wet food that comes in like insulated, cold packaging. Insulation can also be turned into things like the linings inside your caskets, inside punching bags, as well as Insulation for inside soundproofing of cars.
Carol Ventresca [:Interesting.
Brett Johnson [:Oh, okay.
Amy Densborn [:So if you think about it, that stuff doesn't have to be like pristine, Right? It's super cool.
Carol Ventresca [:Yeah.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah. So, yeah. So clothing, it could have. The clothing obviously is going to be different colors and different consistencies, but no one's going to really see the inside of your punching bag. Right, right.
Carol Ventresca [:And I truly, I'm glad to hear that it's an opportunity to create jobs here in the US Because I had assumed all of that material was going to get shipped overseas.
Amy Densborn [:Oh, no, not with this program.
Carol Ventresca [:Wow, that's wonderful.
Amy Densborn [:We're looking for domestic solutions and like I said, there aren't a lot of end markets, There aren't a lot of domestic solutions right now for this type of material. That's why we wanted to start something and see how it went. A pilot, a three month pilot. Because we know it's going to be, it's going to be a lot. It's going to be a lot to try to uncover and navigate. And that's why we wanted to just do something for three months, get some lessons learned under our belt and then hopefully develop a long term solution here in the region for end of life clothing.
Carol Ventresca [:You know, that really says a lot too for the folks who are watching Swayko's programs. In three months you collected nearly 30,000 pounds of, of clothing. That is quick, fast and a lot.
Amy Densborn [:Yes. And I think if we would have kept the program going for just another month or two, we could have doubled that because it does take time for people to learn about new programs and initiatives. Right. And word of mouth is really powerful. So we really saw a huge uptick in participation like that last month at the pilot. And if we, if we had more time, we would have increased those numbers.
Brett Johnson [:Suico has been strategic in educating central Ohio on how to manage with recycling and disposal of items. You get school programs, community events, outreach to businesses. The educational efforts not only make our community safer, but also help bottom lines. Talk more about the outreach efforts and maybe highlight those special partnerships.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, we have a robust outreach and education team that is out and about engaging the community in the evenings and the weekends, answering those questions, reassuring our residents of Franklin county that their efforts to recycle are worth it. You know that your efforts to take your materials to your local drop off mean something and you're doing good for our environment and our economy. The other piece of the question about partnerships, we have a community waste reduction grant where we distribute over $200,000 and every year in grant Funding to help nonprofits, communities and schools implement waste reduction programs. We will work with anybody that wants to develop a sustainable recycling program or some sort of composting program. So that includes communities like Hannah, Worthington, Westerville, Dublin, Bexley, Grove City. And so all of them have a different type of request in terms of what they need for their sustainability goals. But we really take pride in our community waste reduction grant and providing that technical assistance and developing those programs to best practices. So that way communities have a sustainable, successful program to go into the future.
Carol Ventresca [:The technology has certainly changed in 40 years of SWACO's existence to help in our recycling efforts, but the amount of waste in technology is huge. You had mentioned batteries and things. How has technology been helpful to your efforts and what do you see on the horizon in that area?
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, so technology is one of those tricky things, isn't it? Like, sometimes we love it and sometimes we hate it.
Carol Ventresca [:Exactly.
Amy Densborn [:I'm still at the place of my career. Well, I love technology and I'm really leaning on it. And so I'll say one of the advancements in technology that has been really helpful to the recycling industry is having cameras and equipment on the trucks for the recycling trucks that are servicing our routes, that are able to capture in real life time the types of materials that people are putting them. Recycling bin. So for example, if you are, if you were to place like a propane tank or about lithium ion battery and you're recycling and the camera was able to detect it, you can take a picture of that, a snapshot of that, and you can send it directly to the resident all through AI. So all through, it's all automated and it goes straight to their house and it says something like, you made a mistake on this item. This item actually doesn't belong in your recycling bin. This, this is why it's dangerous.
Amy Densborn [:And it's, it's an, it's an educational opportunity. Right. It presents, It's a. It ties directly to what they put in their bin, the mistake that they made, and then you make it into. Into a learning opportunity for the resident. And so we hope that they're taking that information to heart and they're changing their behaviors in terms of what they place in the recycling bed.
Carol Ventresca [:Will it also tell them what they can, how they can get rid of it?
Amy Densborn [:Well, that's a good point. I'm not sure if the hauler takes it to that level, but they should.
Carol Ventresca [:That's an alternative.
Brett Johnson [:So, you know, okay, but how do I get rid of it then? No, no, no.
Carol Ventresca [:I mean, yeah, like a propane tank for like a gas grill kind of thing.
Amy Densborn [:Exactly right.
Carol Ventresca [:That's not. It's probably not uncommon that that happens.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah. I mean, we are. Swicco's not in the business of hauling waste, so we don't see it as much. We have a transfer station, so we haul waste in that way. But yeah, I'm sure it does happen.
Brett Johnson [:Recycling has become a global issue as well. When we send barges of paper or cloth to other countries, they're creating new markets for products to be created and possibly sent back to us for sale. Could you talk a little bit more, maybe provide some more information on the changes that have occurred in the global markets for recyclables and that impact, that possible impact on central Ohio?
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, it's really the talk of the nation, the changes in the global markets and what has happened to our recyclables. Back in 2018, China instilled what's called the national sword policy, where they basically stopped taking those barges that you just spoke of. They stopped accepting waste from the Western world. They said they closed their ports and they said no more of this material. And so what was what we're really thankful for here in central Ohio is we were relatively insulated from that policy change because Rumpke has really made investments in recycling and finding those solutions here in Ohio and in the Midwest to sell our products to. So we are very fortunate to have a strong recycling economy here in Ohio. We weren't relying on those Chinese Asian markets to begin with. And so other places across the nation were though.
Amy Densborn [:So I can only speak to local implications, but locally we didn't have that issue. We didn't have this, this frenzy of trying to figure out who to sell our paper and our cardboard and our cans to because we had, we had relatively close by solutions. And so what I can say, as Rumpke has found partners here in central Ohio. Ohio in general, 80% of everything that we recycle here in our community here in central Ohio, it stays in our state. So that's really a good sign of having a strong recycling economy that materials aren't going to elsewhere. Some material goes to other places in the Midwest, but it's all staying here domestically. So nothing's getting shipped overseas anymore here in our region.
Carol Ventresca [:Especially when you think about like cardboard and paper, because we don't have the cardboard and paper plants that we used to have. How can we not try to hold onto that resource here and reuse it as we can, remake it as we can, especially cardboard I mean, goodness gracious. What comes around from the Amazon trucks in my neighborhood every week?
Amy Densborn [:You're right. We are really lucky to have a 100% recycled paper mill right here in Ohio. It's in Wapakoneta. It's called Pratt Industries. They only utilize recycled paper to make their new paper boxes.
Carol Ventresca [:Wow.
Amy Densborn [:They don't use any virgin trees to make their paper products. That's in our state. That's. How far is Wapakoneta from here? An hour and a half.
Brett Johnson [:Hour and a half.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah. Right. So you can feel really good when you recycle. Can you recycle your cardboard and your paper products that it's going to go on to them to likely become a new cardboard box for that Amazon truck that comes up and down your neighborhood?
Carol Ventresca [:And I noticed those Amazon boxes have gone. Gone down in what looks like quality, but in actuality, it's down in size, down in the number of flaps, down in weight of it.
Amy Densborn [:Really?
Carol Ventresca [:Yeah. It's just there they are bringing down the. The level of use of paper in their boxes.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, I think they are. I think they realize that a lot of people rely on Amazon to get their goods these days, and they need to be thinking critically about sustainability and finding new ways to have less packaging and to rely on more recycled content. So one thing that Amazon's done that I appreciate and I take advantage of is they allow you to ship the material in the actual box of the package. So say, for example, you want to buy, like, a blender, and maybe you live in a safe area, a safe neighborhood, and you don't have a lot of package theft. And so they allow you to ship the actual product in the box, the manufacturer box itself, without then putting it in another box.
Carol Ventresca [:Right, right.
Brett Johnson [:Which is probably double its size.
Amy Densborn [:Which is probably double its size. And it, like, rolls around in the box.
Brett Johnson [:Yes.
Amy Densborn [:And so I think that's a nice. That's a nice offer that they've. They've presented.
Carol Ventresca [:Right.
Amy Densborn [:And there's also a trick that you can use where you can have the materials come all on the same day. So you can. You can. And they'll give you, like, digital credits, too. So instead of having the truck come to your house, like, every day, all week long, you can wait until all the items are ready for delivery and have them come just once. So that's something else we can do to help protect the environment.
Carol Ventresca [:I like the bubble envelopes and how they show you that you just. If there's too many stickers to take off, all the stickers and everything. You just put them inside out and reuse them again. They're still going to protect whatever it is you're mailing. But then that bubble envelope has at least two uses as opposed to just one. And done.
Amy Densborn [:Yeah, that's another creative way to reuse those materials.
Carol Ventresca [:Exactly. So very good already closing this discussion which went very quickly. And again, we thank you so much for being with us today. And to our listeners, don't forget, we always have our resources list. Amy's going to help us put all of this information together. We've mentioned a few things today that we want to make sure that you have that easy to access list of resources to find how you can get rid of your disposable items easily, quickly, and the phone number to call it. So we go if you've got any questions. So as we do close our conversation though, what do you predict we are going to be accomplishing in our future efforts to keep our environment and community free from excess waste? And do you have any last words of wisdom for our listeners on how to make all that happen?
Amy Densborn [:So SWACO has sustainability goals. One of them is called the Green Print. It's really our vision for a more sustainable future and we really want to try to tackle some of those harder to recycle items. So you may we made we talked earlier about end of life clothing. That's one of those materials that we all have in abundance. Right. We have clothing in our houses all the time and there's not a great solution for them. So we hope to bring back a, an end of life clothing program and make it permanent.
Amy Densborn [:And the other material stream that we really want to tackle is mattresses. Think about what you do with your old mattresses. You throw them away. There isn't really any great solution here in Ohio to recycle your mattresses. There are other states who have made mattress recycling laws that make it a requirement. We're probably not going to go that far, but we're going to make it an option, make it a viable solution for you to see your mattresses recycled. They'll get deconstructed. The cotton will be recovered, the foam, the wood, the springs.
Amy Densborn [:There are recyclers out there that are tackling this and we want to bring them to central Ohio to make a program for, for our community. Some other things that we're looking to tackle more convenience centers here in our region so it makes it even easier for residents to have access to convenient recycling to take all their places to one location. And then increased infrastructure for composting you know how we made reference earlier to that there aren't local solutions to take your food scraps to. Everything has to be trucked out of the county, which is not great for environment. So SWACO is looking to add more composting locations here in our region. So it's, it's more cost effective and there's less trucks leaving our county with our food scraps longer term vision. You know, we really have a goal to try to develop more reuse hubs. So reuse is really cool.
Amy Densborn [:In my book, remember I talked about my grandma and my grandma reused everything she saw. She saw potential in everything. But there really is a lot of potential in the stuff that we get rid of and it doesn't have to be that way. So we're hoping to, to in the, in the next four to five, six years open a hazardous waste facility for reusable hazardous waste. And you might be thinking, what does that mean? Things like, you know, cleaners, old pesticides that aren't even old, maybe they're unopened, things like that that have still useful life and they don't have to be disposed of. And so putting them on a shelf and making them available to anybody else in our community for free. So we really want to explore that. Explore just getting materials back out there into the marketplace, back out into the hands of people that need them and before they are recycled or destroyed.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah, I love that idea. That's great. Well, many thanks to our expert guest, Amy Densborn, Programs Manager at forsweco, the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, for joining us today. And listeners, thank you for joining us. You're going to find the contact information and resources we discussed in the podcast Show Notes on our website@lookingforwardarway.com and we are looking forward to hearing your feedback on this or any of our other podcast episodes.
