Since its start in 1932, Rumpke has become one of America’s largest family-owned waste and recycling companies. Founder William Rumpke had no idea that the modest coal delivery service he operated during the start of the Great Depression would eventually employ over 2,000 people in 90 years.
However, Rumpke is more than a Midwestern waste-removal operation. The company is passionate about educating people on the importance of recycling. In fact, over half of our trash is recyclable, and Rumpke is responsible for more than 700 million pounds of glass, paper, aluminum and other materials from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia each year.
“What we do isn’t always pretty, but it’s necessary,” says Vice President of Rumpke, Jeff Rumpke in a video on the site. “We want to do the best job we can handling those materials and being a first-class operation.”
It all begins with you. Each item that is recycled, no matter the size, makes a difference, and as of Jan. 11, they have announced new items that they are accepting in their recycling bins. On top of the usual paper products, metal cans, glass and plastic bottles and cartons, you can recycle tubs like yogurt containers, butter tubs and fruit cups.
Rumpke was able to add these new materials to their list due to a grant they received from The Recycling Partnership. “The funding helped Rumpke add nearly $2 million in new sorting to better extract these containers for recycling,” says a press release.
They also included a helpful list of other things you can and cannot recycle — like you can’t recycle ice cream cartons or egg cartons.
The materials you recycle are apart of something much bigger. Rumpke ships bales of newspaper to destinations like China and India to be made into new items. Glass is sent to Rumpke’s Recovery Facility in Dayton, Ohio where it is turned into fiberglass insulation or produced into new glass bottles.
Additionally, Rumpke even recycles the harmful gases that accumulate in their landfill near Cincinnati due to underground decomposition. Unlike most landfills that would burn these gases to prevent them from entering the atmosphere, Rumpke captures the gases, separates it from the harmful components and the beneficial ones, and uses it to fuels dozens of their trucks. Enough energy is collected from these gases to power 25,000 homes.
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2021.