Recycle Yard Waste this Spring Season

With Memorial Day right around the corner, getting the yard ready to enjoy with family and friends is an activity so many of us are doing right now. As you seize the opportunity to enjoy fresh air and tend to your outdoor projects, keep in mind ways you c...

Celebrating SWACO School Recycling Champions

SWACO’s School Recycling Champion program launched at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. The program presents schools with resources to help implement recycling education with kid-friendly activities. It also offers funding assistance t...

Local Innovators Invited to ‘Waste to Resources' Challenge

Each year, over a million tons of waste is landfilled from Franklin County businesses and residents, including one million pounds of discarded food each day. Most of this waste could be diverted from entering the landfill through reuse, recycling and comp...

Looking Ahead to Next School Year - SWACO has Resources to Help Schools

Dear Educators – 

As districts across Franklin County wrap up a very challenging 2020-2021 school year and look ahead to returning to a more traditional school environment in the future, SWACO encourages you to consider the importance of...

SWACO Community Waste Reduction Grant Program Applications Now Open

At SWACO, we believe strongly that everyone has the power to make a fundamental difference in creating a safer, more sustainable community and to help meet our aggressive goals to increase recycling and diversion of materials away from the landfill. But w...

Making a Difference

It’s no mystery that 2020 had a profound impact on everyone in our community. Lifestyle changes forced upon us as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted every part of our lives – even our waste stream. From increased cardboard shipping boxes...

Sustainable Spring Cleaning Guide

The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, birds are chirping and those household spring cleaning tasks are calling your name. While purging closets, tending to the garden and sprucing up your home for the new season, it’s important to keep a con...

This Year, Make Every Day Earth Day

Earth Day is a global call to action to take meaningful steps to support and protect our environment not only for ourselves, but for future generations. At SWACO, we believe in treating every day as Earth Day. We believe each day is an opportunity to take...

Learn How to ‘Recycle Right’ This Earth Month

With Earth Day just one week away, now is the perfect time to determine how you’ll celebrate – on Earth Day, and every day. Every year, Franklin County residents and businesses send over a million tons of material to the Frank...

Celebrate Earth Month

April marks the start of Earth Month, a time that encourages action and initiative in lessening our impact on the environment by reducing waste and committing to recycling and composting. These actions also serve to strengthen the local economy and help f...

Tips to Reduce Food Waste this Spring

With days turning longer and warmer weather returning to Central Ohio, many families are looking forward to (safe) gatherings this Spring, starting with the Passover and Easter holidays. But with holidays come large meals for family and friends, often lea...

Grant Program Reaches New Heights

SWACO has awarded more than $224,000 in grant funding to 15 local organizations, schools and non-profits in Central Ohio, the most grant funding awarded as part of the Community Waste Reduction Grant program in recent history.

The increase is an acknowledg...

Central Ohio Hospitals Reuse and Recycle Vaccine Packaging Materials

Like many states across the U.S., the month of March will mark the one-year anniversary of the first pandemic-related ‘Stay at Home’ orders in Ohio.  Since that time, the state, nation and the world have weathered (and lost) a...

Ty Marsh: Properly managed, waste stream can be a valuable resource

In 2021, a New York-based renewable energy company will break ground on Columbus Solar Park. This 50-megawatt facility will be built on the 173-acre site of Franklin County’s closed former landfill southwest of Downtown along I-71. BQ Energy wil...

SWACO to Reduce Its Carbon Emissions 64% by 2032

In recognition that climate plays a critical role in our community’s quality of life, economic well-being and long-term sustainability, SWACO has committed to reducing its carbon footprint and, ultimately, its impact on climate change. ...

Central Ohio’s Recycling Program is Growing

With the new year, comes some good news from our partners at Rumpke Waste & Recycling. Rumpke announced that they would be expanding their plastics recycling program to include polypropylene tubs and yogurt containers. 

Now Accepted &ndash...

Ty Marsh: SWACO in 2020

Despite the crazy year we’ve had, the team at SWACO was able to accomplish so much on behalf of – and in coordination with – central Ohio residents, businesses, schools and other public- and private-sector organizations. Our ...

SWACO Receives National Grant to Study Effectiveness of Food Waste Diversion Activities

SWACO is one of three organizations that recently received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support sustainable materials management projects in Ohio. Sustainable materials management, according to the U.S. EPA, is a systematic app...

More Franklin County communities pledge to Recycle Right

In 2018, SWACO introduced its Recycle Right: Make a Difference education campaign to encourage recycling and teach the right way to do it. We created the campaign following a survey showing people want to recycle but get confused about which items are acc...

SWACO wins national recycling award for food waste diversion work

The National Recycling Coalition, a non-profit organization focused on promoting and enhancing recycling in the United States has named SWACO as the Outstanding Recycling Organization for 2020. 

Nominated by GT Environm...

SWACO, Rev1 Ventures team up to fuel startups innovating food waste

Today, Rev1 Ventures, the startup studio that combines capital and strategic services, and the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO), whose mission it is to improve Central Ohio’s solid waste stream through effective red...

SWACO seeks to make a lasting impact with “Save More Than Food” campaign

In central Ohio, food waste is a complex issue that’s impacting the health of our community, economy, and environment in ways many people don’t realize. That’s why SWACO and more than 150 partners in the Central Ohio Food Was...

New Kids Corner Aims to Make the Start of the School Year Fun

Many studies have shown that children form habits by the time they’re 9 or 10 years old. That means we have a relatively short window of time to ingrain good practices in our kids. While it’s important to teach good manners, healthy ea...

Fifteen Organizations Receive SWACO Grant Funding; Others Invited to Apply

In keeping with its mission to improve Franklin County’s solid waste stream, SWACO has awarded $201,873.31 in competitive grant funding to 15 community projects to implement or improve waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting activities....

SWACO Selects Firm to Plan Large Solar Energy Facility on Site of Former County Landfill

SWACO has entered into an agreement with BQ Energy Development, LLC, to lease the approximately 173-acre property that once served as Franklin County’s sanitary landfill between Jackson Pike and I-71 in Grove City, Ohio. The property will be put...

Bringing Hope from Recent Unrest

Habitat for Humanity-MidOhio ReStore employees will be retrieving much of the plywood Columbus business owners and property managers used to board up windows in the wake of the recent protests in our city. SWACO — the Solid Waste Authority of Ce...

Give Composting a Try! It’s a Fun, Easy Way to Reduce Waste

What is Composting?

Composting is the natural process by which decomposers, such as worms and microorganisms, turn food scraps and other natural material like leaves into nutrient-rich soil without the use of chemicals. It’s like nature&rsquo...

Letter: Recycling is More Important Than Ever During Pandemic

Our state’s response to the pandemic has been swift and has certainly saved many lives. And, our individual response to support local businesses and our neighbors has been a shining example of what it means to be a Buckeye in America’s...

Study: 76% of Franklin County Waste Stream Could Be Diverted From Landfill

SWACO has released a study documenting that up to 76% of the material currently being sent to the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill could be recycled or composted. The study also found that of those discarded materials, the items presenting the biggest op...

Executive Director Ty Marsh: As Recycling Rate Climbs, SWACO Studies Will Inform Future Strategies

In November, SWACO released new data that shows central Ohio has now surpassed a 50% diversion rate. This means that residents and businesses are keeping over half of the waste they create out of the landfill by recycling, composting and re-using material...

P&G, Rumpke and SWACO Provide Update on the State of Recycling in Central Ohio

Over the past year, global markets for recyclables have shifted causing a rippling effect that has hindered recycling programs across the country. As a result, many Ohio communities have seen a recent increase in the cost for recycling programs which has ...

Dublin Irish Festival Doubles Its Recycling in Two Short Years

More than 100,000 people attend the Dublin Irish Festival each year. With a $6,000 grant from SWACO, the festival was able to double the amount of recyclable materials it collected this year.

“The City of Dublin strives to be a leader in mitigati...

Partnerships That Are Changing Lives

Every family deserves to live in a furnished home, and the Furniture Bank of Central Ohio works to make that happen. Recently, SWACO’s executive director Ty Marsh met with Furniture Bank President Steve Votaw to discuss how the nonprofit charita...

The Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative Introduces Food Waste Resources for Schools

Last year, we launched the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative, a group of more than 60 local organizations sharing the same goal: to cut central Ohio food waste in half by 2030. The members of COFWI worked together to develop an action plan, which they re...

Recycle Right Education Campaign Wins Marketing Industry Award

SWACO’s education campaign, “Recycle Right, Make a Difference,” was awarded a MarCom Award for its “Don’t Bag Plastics” video. The MarCom Awards honor excellence in marketing and communications.

W...

Executive Director Ty Marsh: SWACO Initiatives Have Significant Impact on Central Ohio

Central Ohioans are recycling more than ever before. In 2017, the latest year for which we have statistics, our region’s residents and businesses diverted 49 percent of all the waste they created from the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill throug...

What's the Future of Recycling in Light of China's Ban on Imported Recyclable Materials?

China has long been one of our country’s leading buyers of recyclable paper and plastic products, taking about 40 percent of these materials nationwide. But China implemented a new policy in January 2018 that more or less prohibits the country from accept...

SWACO Efforts Promote Cleaner Air in Central Ohio

SWACO works hard to safely dispose of the waste created in Central Ohio, but it also works to harness the landfill to create resources and promote cleaner air for our communities. That’s why SWACO partners with Aria Energy to collect the methane...

SWACO's Educational Resources Help Little Ones Learn About Recycling

As families and young learners prepare to head back to the classroom this fall, SWACO is working with local school districts and teachers to provide educational resources for learning at home and in the classroom. The new educational resources, available ...

SWACO and COSI Unveil a Recycle Right, Make a Difference Exhibit for Families

When you visit COSI, don’t forget to check out our new Recycle Right exhibit. Unveiled in April, the exhibit illustrates how recycling benefits our community. The new exhibit consists of four sections. The first section shows how different recyc...

Tips and Tricks to Help Parents Live Green and Save Green as Kids Go Back to School

In the coming days, students across Franklin County will be heading back into classrooms. Do your back-to-school plans include reusing items and reducing the amount of waste your family generates? If not, consider these tips to help reduce the amount of m...

More Franklin County Events Pursue Greener Status

SWACO today announced the recipients of its 2019 Event Waste Reduction Grant. This grant helps fund public outreach and education efforts around waste reduction and diversion and as well as specific activities that increase reuse, recycling and composting...

New Recycling Education Website - RecycleRight.org - is Up and Running

In 2018, SWACO launched “Recycle Right, Make a Difference,” an educational campaign designed to increase recycling and reduce recycling contamination. SWACO created the campaign following a survey that showed residents were excited about recycling but con...

SWACO's Waste Diversion Efforts Yield Positive Results for Central Ohio

Central Ohio’s efforts to divert waste from the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill are paying off in more ways than one.

According to SWACO’s 2018 Community Impact Report, which was released today, Central Ohio’s recycling rate...

SWACO Releases Plan to Cut Food Waste in Half by 2030

Following nearly a year of community engagement and planning, Central Ohio now has a multi-faceted action plan to address food waste and leverage it for the region’s benefit. The Food Waste Action Plan (“Plan”) is the result ...

SWACO and COSI Launch New Recycling Exhibit for Families

https://youtu.be/zdJjncZD0d8

SWACO and Local Communities Roll Out New Recycling Carts to 38,000 Households in Franklin County

Today, officials from Blendon Township and the cities of Westerville, Gahanna, Bexley and Reynoldsburg kicked off a new effort to deliver larger, more efficient recycling carts to more than 38,000 Franklin County homes. 

These five communities are...

SWACO and The Recycling Partnership Team Up to Make Recycling Carts Available in More Neighborhoods

SWACO is launching a new program to help any Franklin County community that doesn’t currently own curbside recycling carts to purchase them for only $22.50 per cart – a 50% reduction in price.

These wheeled recycling carts provide many advantages over recy...

Executive Director's Update: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Looking back at 2018, it’s clear that SWACO and Franklin County had some significant achievements.

First, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency granted us a “Permit to Install,” which will help to ensure that Franklin Count...

SWACO Expands Waste Capacity with New Landfill Cell

SWACO has constructed a new landfill cell, which will help to ensure there is landfill space available for Franklin County residents and businesses well into the future. The new cell was finished in December 2018 at a cost of $9.7 million.

Today’...

Local Organizations Benefit from SWACO's Community Waste Reduction Grants

SWACO has awarded just over $178,000 in “Community Waste Reduction Grants” to fourteen organizations in Franklin County to implement waste reduction programs. Here’s a list of the organizations and a brief description of thei...

SWACO Funds Community Projects to Reduce Waste, and Reuse, Recycle and Compost Materials

In keeping with SWACO’s mission to improve the solid waste stream through effective reduction, recycling and safe disposal, SWACO has awarded $178,091.74 in competitive grant funding to fourteen community projects. The 2019 Community Waste Reduc...

Recycle Right: Plastic Recycling

Plastic materials are in our every day lives, but many of these items have different rules on whether or not that they can be recycled. 10TV spoke with the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) about how to properly recycle plastics in Franklin Co...

SWACO Launches Initiative to Reduce Food Waste

In 2017, food waste comprised about 12.8 percent, or 143,616 tons, of the material landfilled by Franklin County businesses and residents. That same year, an estimated 10,288 tons of food waste was diverted from the landfill, resulting in a food waste div...

Study Reveals Economic Impact of Local Recycling Industry

We’ve always known that recycling was good for the environment. Now, SWACO is documenting that it’s an economic driver and jobs-producer, as well. SWACO hired DSM Environmental Services to conduct a study to determine the actual size o...

Executive Director Ty Marsh: SWACO Successfully Tackles Three Major Initiatives

Over the past couple of years, SWACO has been involved in three significant initiatives to further our mission of improving the waste stream through effective reduction, recycling and disposal. I’m happy to report that we have concluded these un...

New Children's Garden Opens with SWACO-Funded Composting Sign

The new Children’s Garden at the Franklin Park Conservatory opened May 19. Among the garden’s many attractions is a small exhibit featuring a 36-inch-high worm and a SWACO-funded sign that explains the economic and environment benefits of composting and t...

"Recycle Right" Pilot Campaign Succeeds at Educating Residents

SWACO launched an educational campaign earlier this year aimed at teaching people the proper way to recycle. The campaign, called “Recycle Right,” was introduced as a pilot program in Grove City, Urbancrest and Jackson Township. Follow...

Turn Your Yard Waste into Compost

Did you know that yard waste is not permitted in the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill? That’s why most communities in Franklin County offer a yard waste pickup program. Communities in Franklin County divert nearly 200,000 tons of yard waste eac...

SWACO Grant Program Supports Community Projects

SWACO is seeking applicants for its Community Waste Reduction (CWR) Grant Program, which funds innovative waste reduction and diversion projects. This competitive program is open to nonprofit organizations, governmental entities and public schools, univer...

Poll Shows Positive Views on Recycling in Central Ohio

A public opinion poll conducted by the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) and EMC Research determined that the majority of Franklin County residents recycle because it’s the right thing to do and is good for the environment. The surve...