Posted on: March 4, 2021
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: February 23, 2021
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: February 1, 2021
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: January 21, 2021
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. ...
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SWACO News
Posted on: January 15, 2021
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: January 3, 2021
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 ...
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SWACO News
Posted on: December 15, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: November 12, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: September 15, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: August 27, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 28, 2020
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....
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 9, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: June 23, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: June 20, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: April 26, 2020
Most people engage in the annual ritual of spring cleaning. They take advantage of the longer, warmer days to air out and deep clean their houses that have been closed up all winter.
With most of us spending more time at home thanks to Ohio’s she...
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SWACO News
Posted on: April 21, 2020
It’s been just over four weeks since Gov. DeWine issued Ohio’s first stay-at-home order. In that time, retailers have reported a surge in online shopping. That means people are getting a lot of goods delivered to their homes, and many ...
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SWACO News
Posted on: April 19, 2020
Finding ways to entertain kids or engage them in educational activities can be difficult at any time. But in the midst of a pandemic when families must isolate themselves at home day after day, the task can be nearly impossible.
In honor of Earth...
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SWACO News
Posted on: April 15, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: April 9, 2020
While SWACO is working hard to divert as much material as possible from the landfill, ensuring safe and accessible disposal at the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill for Franklin County families and businesses is also a priority. To prepare for the constru...
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SWACO News
Posted on: March 3, 2020
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: December 5, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: December 6, 2019
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 ...
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SWACO News
Posted on: December 5, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: December 4, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: December 4, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: December 4, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: August 19, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: August 19, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: August 19, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: August 19, 2019
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 ...
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SWACO News
Posted on: August 19, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: August 9, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: June 12, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: June 12, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: May 22, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: May 16, 2019
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 ...
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SWACO News
Posted on: April 17, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: February 25, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: February 26, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: February 26, 2019
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’...
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SWACO News
Posted on: February 25, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: January 30, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: January 28, 2019
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 23, 2018
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 19, 2018
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 19, 2018
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 19, 2018
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 19, 2018
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 19, 2018
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: July 19, 2018
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...
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SWACO News
Posted on: March 27, 2018
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...
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SWACO News