Link Ahead with the City of Dublin, Ohio
Link Ahead with the City of Dublin, Ohio
Recycling Revolution: Rumpke’s Mission to Keep Expanding Your Earth-Friendly Options
Ever wondered what actually happens to your recycling after it leaves your curb? Amanda Pratt, Senior VP of Communications at Rumpke, pulls back the curtain on recycling operations at North America's largest and most technologically advanced recycling facility, which is right here in Columbus, Ohio.
The Rumpke Recycling and Resource Center, a $106 million investment that opened in 2024, processes an astonishing 60-70 tons of recyclables per hour using AI-powered optical scanners, advanced sorting technology, and a system designed to maximize recovery. The facility has expanded what Central Ohioans can recycle and now accepts those frustrating plastic clamshell containers alongside yogurt tubs, plastic cups and even greasy pizza boxes.
What makes this story particularly powerful is the economic impact. Approximately 80% of materials collected stay right here in Ohio, supplying manufacturers that create new products and jobs.
Beyond the industrial operation, Rumpke has partnered with COSI and OSU to create an immersive education center where visitors experience the complete lifecycle of recyclables—from consumer purchasing decisions to final products. School groups and community members can tour the facility and see firsthand how their recycling efforts make a difference.
Lindsay and Bruce also talk with Amanda about common recycling myths and answer resident questions about everything from aluminum foil to Amazon packaging. With Dublin's waste diversion rate nearly 20% higher than the national average, this conversation offers both inspiration and practical guidance for anyone looking to reduce their environmental footprint not just for April's Earth Month but any month!
Hello and welcome to Link Ahead. We're dedicating this episode to well the Earth for this month's official Earth Day recognition, which is Tuesday, april 22nd.
Speaker 2:And our guest is all about sustainability and efforts to recycle, reuse and reduce. Amanda Pratt, senior VP of Communications at Rumpke, welcome to Link Ahead. Well, thanks for having me. Happy Earth Day Happy.
Speaker 1:Earth.
Speaker 2:Day and Rumpke has nearly a century of service, which is amazing. Today you have 4,000 associates and serve customers in five states headquartered here in Ohio. In fact, you recently opened a new material recovery facility, affectionately known as a MRF, here in Columbus, and we had Andrew Booker from SWACO on Link Ahead in the fall and he said it's the biggest MRF in North America. Is that right? Tell us more about this facility. It is?
Speaker 3:It's the Rumke Recycling and Resource Center and we opened it last August. We officially opened it and it is the largest recycling center in North America. It's also the most technologically advanced recycling center in all of North America, so it has the very best recycling technology available anywhere inside the plant and we're using it right here in central Ohio. Which is great news because that means we get to recycle more Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. We know, when the new Murph opened, rumpke expanded the recycling items with a list of plastic clamshell containers, which was super exciting, because that was the one thing we were always like do I get rid of this, do I don't? So tell us more about the new facility's capabilities.
Speaker 3:So the new facility is the reason you can now recycle your clamshell containers, and those are those plastic containers that everyone has wanted to recycle for so long I recycled one.
Speaker 1:This morning the raspberries were done.
Speaker 3:That's what I'm talking about. As soon as you finish your berries or salad or what have you, you could go right to the recycling bin with it, and the reason that it works is because at our new recycling center it's about 262,000 square feet, and we're able to process the recycling that you put in your recycling cart at a rate of 60 to 70 tons per hour. So what happens is is, though, that material is collected at the curb. We're bringing our trucks full of recycling to our tipping floor, which is 30,000 square feet that is also the largest tipping floor in the United States and we're unloading the materials onto the floor, loading them onto a conveyor system, and then the sorting process begins, and that sorting process happens very rapidly, but it also has a lot of redundancy to it. So the first thing that happens is the material goes onto the conveyor. It goes through a series of trommels, and those trommels act as a pre-sorting mechanism. They sort the materials according to their size, so we sort according to three different sizes and then the material travels along and it meets up with Rumpke employees, who are stationed near the conveyor system, and they stand there and they remove things like clothes baskets, maybe large rigid plastics like buckets, or maybe they're removing things that shouldn't have come to us in the first place. We see things like blankets and sheets and clothing.
Speaker 3:A really big hazard for us are batteries. So electronic batteries from cell phones and computers or power tools. Even those e-cigarettes have those batteries. Even greeting cards that play music have those batteries. So those are. Those can't go to recycling. They actually are. They pose a big fire risk to our plant and to the people working around them. So those people stand there. They remove the things that shouldn't come to the recycling center in the first place.
Speaker 3:The material travels along and we sort the fiber materials, the cardboard, from the container materials. So we do that using a system of trommels and ballistic sorters. So the ballistic sorters are like an ellipticalical and we move the fiber material onto one conveyor system and the containers onto another conveyor system and then we use about 19 infrared optical scanners that have AI in front of them to sort your materials into the separate commodities. And we wrap up using steel magnets to separate steel and aluminum and an eddy current and then we have neatly sorted commodities that we ship to manufacturers. Most of those manufacturers are right here in the state of Ohio. Wow, my mind is blown.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 2:I mean you want to talk about an operation and we know Rumke is happy to have residents, school groups, anyone, just come tour the facility. How do people do that? Because this is really something to see.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely. We want people to come in and see for themselves what happens when they take the time to recycle. So school groups, anyone aged 10 and up, is welcome to come and tour the facility. The tours do have to be pre-scheduled, so it's important to go to rumkecom, click on that community link and then you can schedule your tour online, and it's more than a tour of a plant. There's a little bit extra that our groups get to see while they visit.
Speaker 1:So you partnered with COSI and OSU for an education floor with an interactive exhibit. Can you tell us about that?
Speaker 3:Sure Rumpke invested a few million dollars into the project just for education. We know that people want to know what's happening with their recyclables, so we teamed up with COSI and we built an education center. And the education center really walks guests through the process of being in the supermarket and making that first decision whether to purchase an item that is packaged in recyclable material or buying something else. So they go through a supermarket, they shop, they go through a checkout which gives them points for selecting things that can be recycled, and then the next piece of the exhibit takes them to their home and that's where they're making the decision whether or not to put that item in the trash bin or the recycling cart.
Speaker 1:I love this.
Speaker 3:It's totally like a closed loop system, like from start to finish the circle of life.
Speaker 3:I want to take a field trip, oh, and we want people to come in. And then right after that we have a whole full scale model of what they can see inside the recycling center and we go over the trommels, the ballistics, the AI components and the optical optics and how they sort the materials, how the magnets used, and then finally we finish up with a section where they can see how the material is baled and our bales. They weigh between 800 and 2000 pounds each. So we have, right in that education center, real life bales of aluminum, bales of cardboard, so that people can see those materials and see what it looks like. And then we finish up with here's what your material becomes.
Speaker 3:80% of the material that you recycle in your recycling cart with Rumpke goes right back to manufacturers and companies here in the state of Ohio, in the Midwest. So these are companies that are right in our backyard ADS and Greif Brothers and Phoenix Packaging, axiom Plastics, owens, illinois Anchor Glass, all of that. They are our partners and they're right here in Ohio creating jobs from your recyclables. So we show that at the exhibit as well. And then we take the group through a platform tour of the recycling center. We actually go out into the plant and we talk about what happens to your recycling.
Speaker 2:We love that you're partnering with Ohio businesses. We love, love, love that you opened this facility in central Ohio. You could have opened it anywhere, really, so why was our region chosen as the?
Speaker 3:site For Rumpke. We've been recycling since our founding. Back in the 1930s. Our company founders actually collected trash from restaurants and from businesses in town. They brought it back to their farm at the time and they would sort out the rags, the metals, the glass, all the items that could be recycled or reused and so it's kind of a thread that has moved throughout Rumpke's history throughout Rumpke's history, and recycling is so important to us.
Speaker 3:More than 60 to 70% of the materials that we all throw away every day can be recycled. So, knowing that the population is just booming here in Central Ohio and that there are so many wonderful partners who are at the ready to take delivery of processed recycling, it was a perfect fit for Rumpke. The Rumpke family decided to invest $106 million, build not just a material recovery facility but the nation's best and most advanced facility right here in central Ohio, so that we can not only recycle today, but so we can be prepared for all the growth. And we even put inside the recycling center we included an overhead crane so that as technology evolves and develops and as the population grows and as the material stream changes, we can update the equipment and the technology and bring the best right here to our hometown.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's awesome. And you talked about the 30s. It was like you didn't mention plastic.
Speaker 2:It was glass and it was rags and it's like, oh, I don't think about those times you remember back in the 30s, Bruce?
Speaker 1:No, I don't remember the 30s. I'm reminiscing of what our lives were like before plastic consumed everything. Exactly, I mean it's in everything now All right. So how much comes through that? In a roundabout terms, like how much material comes through Central Ohio in a day?
Speaker 3:So in a day we can recycle about 700 to 800 tons. That's what comes through that facility in Columbus services, 50 counties in Ohio. So we have a lot of material coming through Now. We recycle right now 150,000 to 180,000 tons of material every year from that area. We hope or have the capacity to recycle 250,000 tons a year with this new facility. So we have a lot of work to do. We need more recycling. Like I said, the companies, especially in our region, are very eager and excited about receiving the recyclables that we're all bringing to them so that they can create new products.
Speaker 2:And we are not shy in Dublin about our goal to be the most sustainable global city of choice anywhere and we're proud of that commitment. One of the things we always talk about is our diversion rate. So talk about that.
Speaker 3:So diversion rate is how much material you're diverting from the landfill, and landfills only have a certain amount of space and the average American produces four and a half pounds to five pounds of trash every single day.
Speaker 1:A day.
Speaker 3:A day. You might not realize it, but you're generating it. So if you really recycle, well, 60 to 70% of that should be in your recycling, and I will say Dublin is a city that does a fantastic job recycling, all right.
Speaker 1:Your education, your outreach. It's outstanding. We didn't pay her to say that either. That's it.
Speaker 3:They absolutely do a fantastic job here. I can't say enough. I mean, rumpke enjoys the partnership that we have with the city of Dublin and the Dublin residents, and I know we work with the schools, too, to find ways to live more sustainably and to make sure that we're protecting our environment for generations to come. So the diversion rate here is higher than what it is in some areas of the country. It's definitely an attestment to what the city does to provide everyone with curbside recycling and to educate people about what they can recycle.
Speaker 2:Yes and kudos to our city council for making that commitment a long time ago, and great job to the residents, the schools. Like you said, it's a way of life here in Dublin.
Speaker 3:Right and I want to point out, even though this recycling center is new and it's bigger and better, Rumpke's had the recycling facility up here in Columbus since the early 1990s I think it was 1991. So what we did is we kept our old recycling facility open right until we opened that new facility. And we're just here to keep innovating and to keep adding to that list of acceptable items so that we can recycle more and more.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned, we have a high diversion rate and it's nearly 50% of organic and recyclable materials and the national average is 30%. So yay, dublin, we're doing a great job. So what can Dublin do to get that number even higher? And the second part is what can we tell our neighboring communities to be like? Hey, man, you need to get on board with this.
Speaker 3:So one thing that I think everybody can do at home. I think we naturally think of recycling in our kitchens. I mean, that's where our trash can is and we all have, you know, aluminum and steel cans and cardboard boxes there and plastic containers, so it's very easy to do glass. But I also encourage people to think about what's in your garage. Think about boxes that are out there, everything that comes to your curb. I mean, all of us are buying online. Send that cardboard. It doesn't necessarily have to be broken down. Recycling is very easy. You don't have to hand wash your recycling.
Speaker 3:Just rinse it. You don't have to remove labels, just put it in your cart, loose and when in doubt, you have a label on your cart that tells you what goes into the container. You can always check either the city's website or our website and get the latest details. To recycle Again, we added clamshell plastics recycling recently. In recent years we added plastic yogurt containers and tubs. Also, your plastic cups from Starbucks or McDonald's. Those can go in your recycling bin. I don't want you to forget about paper cups. Those all can go in your bin. Now, no-transcript. We can help with solutions to reduce the amount of trash that you're generating.
Speaker 2:That's a really good point. Just curious in the places where we see lower diversion rates, what do you think's holding them back?
Speaker 3:There is the belief that maybe recycling doesn't really happen, and I want to encourage people or let people know it's a big, big part of Rumpke Waste and Recycling. We're investing millions annually to support recycling innovation. It is a separate truck that comes to your house, it is taken to the material recovery facility and we invite people to come in for a tour. And if you can't do that, go to our YouTube channel and we have many, many videos about the recycling process that will take you inside if you can't come in person. I think that's one obstacle. I think another is they might think it's not convenient to recycle and, like I said, we want to make it easy. We want to make it something that you want to do. So don't remove labels, don't hand wash your recycling. Just a quick rinse, toss them all in there. They can be mixed together. You don't need to separate paper from containers. It's just very simple and easy.
Speaker 3:The other thing that I think detracts a little bit from recycling is some of the national headlines have been published or they've been broadcasted that recycling is not successful. It's failing. Plastic recycling doesn't work, and I really want people to know that recycling is alive and well here in the United States and specifically here in Ohio, those articles, I think they'll say less than 5% of plastics are recycled. The reality is they're talking about every type of plastic everywhere. When you consider how many plastic bottles and jugs and tubs are being recycled we're at 37% are being recycled are being recycled. We're at 37% are being recycled. So 37% of all plastic bottles and jugs are being recycled. So it's working, it's successful, it makes economic sense and the demand for recycled materials is very high right now and that fuels our circular economy, that creates jobs and that's a benefit to all of us.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. If you look across the nation, how does Ohio compare to all the other states in the union?
Speaker 3:Well, I am an Ohioan O-H but we're one of the best we really are, if not the absolute best. We do have the best recycling facilities. Like I said, we have such wonderful innovative partners right here in the state of Ohio. I named a few earlier, but we have ADS Advanced Drainage Systems, we have Axiom Plastics, we have Phoenixiom plastics, we have Phoenix packaging. Coca Cola has some of their facilities here and they are recycling the bottles that your Diet Coke and all your Coke products are coming in.
Speaker 3:We work with a company called Pratt in northern Ohio, pratt Paper and they're making cardboard boxes for people like Amazon. There's also a pipe company up north in Ohio near Bowling Green. There's just so many resources right here within our state, within our footprint, that are willing to accept the materials. And then we have these great manufacturers who are willing to make changes, companies like Procter Gamble and Kroger and Bath Body Works and Marzetti. They're coming to our plant, they're studying the way that recycling works and they're figuring out ways to change their packaging so that it can go from the shelf to the bin, back onto the store shelf.
Speaker 1:Not that I want to put you on the spot to call it another state, but is there a certain city state that you don't have to say the name that you're like? This is a prime real estate for recycling, and why aren't they doing this?
Speaker 3:For us, our concentration is mainly on our service area, because that's just the way that it makes sense for us to expand. From a logistical perspective, ohio is top notch and I'm not just saying that, it really is top notch Romkey services, ohio, kentucky, indiana, west Virginia and Illinois. I know West Virginia has a lot of work to do and they're very eager to start more recycling programs. Illinois is the same way. Indiana is very aggressive about recycling.
Speaker 3:Of course, if you look at the entire nation I mean we have, you know, the West Coast is very progressive when it comes to recycling and they have a lot of waste reduction programs. And we actually have, as an industry, a group called the National Waste and Recycling Association, and Rumpke is heavily involved in this association. And we're working with other cities, other municipalities, other waste haulers, recyclers, so that we can innovate together and lift up our entire industry and offer better services, more accessible services, more innovative services to our customers. So the National Waste and Recycling Association, along with the Solid Waste Association of North America, are working together with all the groups involved to try to elevate our resources and our solutions for our customers.
Speaker 2:Well, you've talked a lot about partnerships and innovation, and we started partnering with the city of Hilliard in 2021 on efforts to recycle styrofoam. We collect it and then Hilliard processes it with a process called densification. And how's this for perspective? Together, we can basically take a stack of styrofoam the size of an SUV and compress it to the size of a concrete block. Tell us more about that, that is amazing.
Speaker 3:I mean first of all another reason that you guys are going above and beyond to add more waste diversion. I mean styrofoam recycling. It can't happen in a facility like ours because it's light and it's very, very difficult for us to sort with the mechanical sorting equipment that we have available to us. So you guys have come up with a unique solution that is diverting waste and creating new products, and you guys have also supported the Hefty Renew program, which allows customers who decide to purchase these Hefty Renew garbage bags to recycle the styrofoam and the candy wrappers and the snack bags.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tell us more about that orange bag program. This is for those hard to recycle items. Tell us what that program is for, how it works and what we can use it for. Sure so it is.
Speaker 3:it's an orange bag program. It's called Hefty Renew and these are bags that you can purchase in your local grocery stores. I know they're available at the Kroger Target, walmart. They're also available online at the Hefty Renew website. If you go to the Hefty Renew website they will even allow you to sign up for a free starter kit and they will send you a bag to try. But basically it's an orange bag and out on the outside of that orange bag it lists hard to recycle items. So this is things like paper plates, styrofoam, candy wrappers, chip bags, plastic utensils all of those things that don't go in your standard curbside recycling program. So you put them in the orange bag. But you can put the orange bag out with your Rumpke pickup and we will take it. And at our recycling facility we're pulling those orange bags, we bail them up and we ship them to an end user that Hefty has found for us and they make those plastic blocks and plastic furniture out of the hard-to-recycle plastics that are placed in those Orange Hefty Renew bags.
Speaker 2:Wow, and you put that out with your recycling bin. Yes, your recycling bin.
Speaker 3:Yes, you can put it right out with your recycling bin. You can put it inside your cart. We're going to dump it with your other recyclables, but our employees are trained then to pull those Orange bags out, and then we'll bail them and ship them off to the hefty end user.
Speaker 1:That is very cool. So, amanda, we've heard the term called wish cycling. People aren't sure if something is recyclable or not.
Speaker 3:They hope it is so the thought in the blue bin.
Speaker 1:Is this a problem?
Speaker 3:I wish, wish cycling was not a problem. But unfortunately it is. And it's that whole concept where you know we all want to do what's right.
Speaker 1:We all want to.
Speaker 3:we hate to throw something away. We want to put something to good use, and I know that wish cyclers their heart is in the right place.
Speaker 3:However, when we get the wrong things at the recycling facility, it not only puts our people at risk, like electronic waste, like those batteries I talked about, but it also breaks down the equipment, stops the system from working so that we can repair it and ultimately drives up the cost of recycling. And then, when you're sending the wrong thing to the recycling center, you're paying to have it picked up, transported to the recycling center, sent through the process, only to be kicked back out of the process and then driven to a landfill. So you've just doubled the carbon footprint and the cost by putting the wrong thing in the bin. So it's very important.
Speaker 3:While we want all your materials and we want to make it as easy as possible, if you're in doubt, please check your cart lid or check your city's website, check Rumpke's website and find out what you can and cannot recycle. Like I said, some of the things that we really see often are electronics like cell phones, power tools, et cetera, even toys that have batteries in them. But we see things like diapers and clothing and bedsheets, and I think a lot of it comes through on public drop-offs, the Dropbox recycling programs, where we get some donations, but really, if you just stick with aluminum cans, steel cans, cartons with the straws removed, glass bottles and jars, and your plastic cups, tubs, bottles and these are laundry detergent bottles and water bottles, shampoo bottles, lotion bottles, etc. And then all your cardboard and junk mail.
Speaker 2:That's what goes in the bin Before we wrap things up. We took to social media to ask our residents what are their recycling questions, because we know with all the improvements, you know people get confused Can I, can I not? And so here are their questions. So first question can we recycle aluminum?
Speaker 3:or their questions. So first question can we recycle aluminum? You can recycle aluminum cans, but other types of scrap aluminum are not permitted in the Rumpke Recycling Curbside Program. You're going to want to take those to a scrap buyback center?
Speaker 1:What about during the holidays? Wrapping paper.
Speaker 3:Or birthdays.
Speaker 1:Well, birthdays, yeah, I didn't think about that.
Speaker 3:Year round. So wrapping paper is acceptable because it's paper. Basic rule of thumb is if you can tear it, you can put it in your recycling cart. I will say tissue paper or paper that's made of like a foil texture. Those are not great to put in, it's really just standard wrapping paper this is a really specific one Sushi plastic containers.
Speaker 3:Well, I guess it depends on where you're getting the sushi from, but I would say you're talking about a clamshell plastic container and when in doubt on the clamshells, if it has a hinge meaning it bends to close it then that is a clamshell. It should be clear in color and have that hinge. So definitely think of those containers that your strawberries and cranberries and blueberries come in, and if it has a hinge and some of those sushi containers do you can toss it in there.
Speaker 1:How about foil?
Speaker 3:Aluminum foil. We do see it, we do try to recover it, but it's not something that we can take in a large amount or a large quantity. It's best to leave aluminum foil out of your recycling cart.
Speaker 2:I've been wish-cycling the aluminum foil Quincy.
Speaker 3:Quincy, oh my goodness, this is why we have the experts here. You're absolutely right, okay.
Speaker 2:I think I know the answer to this one Greasy pizza boxes.
Speaker 3:Oh, this is such a good one. I'm glad you brought it up. People always want to know about the pizza boxes. So pizza boxes, we want them. In fact, our paper mills have told us that they will even take the greasy pizza boxes. So as long as it doesn't have like a chunk of food, on it like cheese.
Speaker 1:You eat the pizza, amanda, you're not throwing pizza away.
Speaker 3:Do not waste food. So, yes, please put it in your recycling cart, please. We will take it and it'll be recycled into a new cardboard box or some paper hand towels Awesome.
Speaker 1:Uh, bottle caps bottle caps.
Speaker 3:That's a good one too.
Speaker 2:These are from our residents.
Speaker 3:These are great. Um so bottle caps. If you have a plastic bottle cap, you're going to want to the best practice. You don't have to do this, but the best practice would be to crush all the air out of your plastic bottle and put the plastic cap back on the container. That will allow our optics to identify that plastic water bottle and pull that out. If it's a glass bottle with a metal lid, you're going to want to keep the lid separate, because the metal lid is going to get recovered with the aluminum and steel cans and the glass is going to actually be crushed and broken and sent to our one-of-a-kind glass processing facility, which is in Dayton Ohio, and that's where we make the materials used for the fiberglass industry and the liquor container bottling industry.
Speaker 2:What about the plastic bags when you order something from Amazon, so it doesn't come in a box. It comes in that plastic bag and it says it's recyclable. But I'm like I don't know. You're a plastic bag.
Speaker 3:That's a very good question. I go over this at home with my husband almost every day. I know they say they're recyclable, but there are no rules about which products can carry that recycling symbol.
Speaker 3:So it's best to consider what's acceptable versus what's recyclable. What can we accept and sort effectively in our curbside program? Those plastic packages that come with your Amazon. Unfortunately, we cannot process those right now at our recycling facility. However, if you have the Hefty Renew program, that's a perfect example of something that you could put into that orange Hefty Renew bag and recycle it.
Speaker 2:I have to buy some of those because I get a lot of those Amazon bags sent. Some of them have the bubble wrap inside and all that and that's perfect for the orange bag. Got it.
Speaker 3:And one box of those orange bags usually lasts an average family a year.
Speaker 1:Okay, Amanda, we wrap every episode with some rapid fire questions to all of our guests. So let's jump in On the recycling front. What's one weird or quirky item Ohioans might not think is recyclable, but actually is?
Speaker 3:So I think that lots of people don't realize I was going to say the pizza boxes, because people are very skeptical on recycling those. I think it's got to be the plastic cups that you get from Starbucks and fast food restaurants. All of those are recyclable. We don't want the straw, but you can put that plastic lid on it, toss it in your cart and it's good to go.
Speaker 2:All right, this is a fun one. Give us a couple of ideas on reusing.
Speaker 3:Oh, so there are so many good ideas for reusing items. Art Projects is a great one that I noticed that teachers are using, but also, if you cut a plastic bottle, cut the top of it off. You can pot your plants or flowers in it. Let your kids decorate the container and use it that way. You also can always donate always donate items. I think sometimes we forget about how important that is and that we could send a lot less items to the landfill if we donate items to worthy causes.
Speaker 1:Has there been an item in your house or basement or attic where you thought now I can recycle this?
Speaker 3:There's a lot of things in the basement that I would like to wish cycle Just be gone Old couches. But I actually just went on a cleaning spree and threw away some of my high school memories that my parents had gifted me why do parents do that?
Speaker 2:Why Don't do that to your kids, Bruce?
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 3:And you know what? I had a bunch of greeting cards that I no longer needed. I had some school papers that I no longer needed and I was able to recycle. I want to say about 85% of what I cleaned out of those boxes. So we're in springtime, You're cleaning your closets, You're cleaning out your garage. Just maybe post that acceptable items list somewhere and consider, as you're cleaning out old storage, there's a lot of cardboard and paper there. There's a lot of containers that can be tossed in your recycling cart.
Speaker 2:Okay, caught in the act. You see someone not recycling. What do you do? Well not at home with your husband, but like maybe at work or in public.
Speaker 3:Generally I was just yeah lots of things came to mind with that question.
Speaker 3:I think it's best to just say hey, did you notice that there's a recycling container right here? This cup can go there. Sometimes I find myself actually reaching in and pulling it out of the trash and putting it into the right container. Sometimes it's easier for me, I think, than most people, to bring up recycling because I work at Rumkey and they know I'm naturally going to want to talk about it, whether they want to hear it or not. But I think it's just about setting a good example. Whether you're at work, home or play, chances are there's a recycling option around you. So being aware and looking for those options and then setting the example for others, I think is really key.
Speaker 2:Amanda Pratt, thank you for your dedicated partnership to our city and your dedication to a more sustainable planet, and thank you for joining us on Link Ahead my pleasure, thank you so much to the city of Dublin, to all the residents and all the businesses who make recycling a success.
Speaker 1:And to our listeners. Thank you as well for taking the time to connect with your city. Tune in next time as we continue to explore the many personalities and experiences that make Dublin a thriving place to live, work and grow. Thank you.