WastED - A Waste and Recycling Podcast by SWACO
WasteED is a waste and recycling education podcast from SWACO. Hosted monthly by Joe Lombardi and Hanna Greer-Brown, our guests offer insights into regional efforts helping to push sustainability forward as well as sharing their perspective on the next big GREEN thing for central Ohio. Between a few laughs plus genuine and substantive conversation, each episode features takeaways about proper disposal that will have listeners recycling right in no time. Find us on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you listen!
WastED - A Waste and Recycling Podcast by SWACO
Clean Sweep: Your ultimate guide to spring cleaning the right way
Tackling that overflowing garage or cluttered attic this season? Before you start filling trash bags, SWACO's latest podcast episode delivers an eye-opening guide to spring cleaning the right way. Executive Director Joe Lombardi and Communications Director Hanna Greer-Brown welcome Education Specialist Kim Chapman and Outreach Administrator Amy Densborn to share lesser-known disposal options that keep valuable materials out of our landfill.
What's truly astonishing? Our research reveals that 76% of materials arriving at the landfill could have been recycled, reused, or composted. This podcast dives deep into solutions that make proper disposal convenient while supporting environmental sustainability. Learn about SWACO's two specialized facilities: the Household Hazardous Waste site near the fairgrounds and the newer Recycling Convenience Center that accepts hard-to-recycle items like electronics, appliances, and even food waste.
The conversation covers practical advice on safely disposing of batteries, motor oil, and grass clippings, along with creative disposal solutions you might never have considered. Did you know your donated latex paint helps rebuild communities after natural disasters? Or that shredded paper makes excellent compost material? From separating lithium-ion batteries to finding new homes for gently used textiles, these small actions make an enormous impact.
Beyond disposal tips, discover SWACO's educational opportunities including public landfill tours (next one May 31st) and upcoming community events throughout spring. Our experts emphasize looking beyond kitchen recycling to capture items from every room in your home. Ready to transform your spring cleaning from wasteful to wonderful? Visit RecycleRight.org for location-specific guidance on where to take those tricky materials, or attend one of SWACO's many spring events to learn more in person.
Welcome to Waste Ed a waste and recycling podcast by Swako.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Episode 7 of Wasted. And I know, like me, waiting for warmer temps, our listeners are as well. Because I want to be honest here, at the beginning of our podcast. Who out there is already planning or doing their spring cleaning projects? You know the ones the garage, the attic, or that extra room or extra little space in your house that everything just seems to crawl over to and pile up? Well, this episode is your complete guide to spring cleaning the right way. I'm Joe Lombardi, the Executive Director at SWACO.
Speaker 1:And I'm Hannah Greer-Brown, Director of Communications. Our two guests today are so valuable to the SWACO team and they know a lot about spring cleaning too. Kim Chapman, our education specialist, and Amy Densborn, our outreach programs administrator. Welcome to the show, Thank you. Thank you so much. Let's start today's conversation broadly. Kim, tell us a little bit about what you do for SWACO.
Speaker 3:Sure, I'm the education specialist, and the bulk of my job really revolves around giving tours of the landfill. Mostly I see school-aged children, but lots of adult groups come out as well. And then I also help with Amy too. She'll talk a little bit about what she does, but I help fill in the cracks.
Speaker 1:That's great, amy. Go ahead, tell us a little bit about what you do here at SWACO.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I'm the outreach administrator and I'm really tasked with educating the Franklin County community on best practices for recycling, composting and safe disposal at the landfill. You might catch me out at a community event tabling and answering your questions or participating in a webinar that SWACO hosts.
Speaker 2:And for those that don't work with Amy and Kim. They are some of the most passionate people in their jobs and making sure that our community is getting all the education and awareness that they need. But let's dig into spring cleaning. From our own research of what people want when they go to reuse, recycle and throw away items is convenience A one-stop shop, so to speak. What conveniences does SWACO offer Amy?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so we have two convenient locations to drop off materials like household hazardous waste, as well as another location that takes a lot of hard to recycle materials. So I'll break it down with household hazardous waste first, so anything that would be considered toxic or flammable. Household hazardous waste first. So anything that would be considered toxic or flammable. Look for labeling that has the words poison, danger, use in a well-ventilated area. That kind of material should be taken to SWACO's permanent household hazardous waste site.
Speaker 4:It's located at 645 East 8th Avenue, open Monday through Friday, nine to five, the first Saturday every month, and we also do a number of pop-up collections throughout the year. I believe there's one coming up in Dublin in April, april 5th April 5th, thanks, hannah. But otherwise you can bring those materials to us for free for Franklin County residents. If you're outside of the county, double-check before you bring materials and there might be additional fees. And then we also have our Conven convenience center, which opened in 2023. So it's a newer site but it takes a lot of hard to recycle materials such as batteries, appliances, scrap metal, food waste, styrofoam and, of course, the electronics. Well, electronics is the number one source of material we receive at our convenience center and that site is located at 2566 Jackson Pike.
Speaker 2:And Kim, what other conveniences do you provide in the education side of this that make it a little easier for people to understand what they can throw away, reuse or what they can repurpose?
Speaker 3:they can repurpose? Yeah, sure. So when you come to the landfill for a tour, we start off with a presentation that really covers what is recyclable here in Franklin County, what can go into your bin, and then we talk a little bit about some of those hard to recycle items like what Amy was just mentioning, and I offer those resources as well, letting them know where they can take these different types of items.
Speaker 2:That's great to know, and I'm sure, with all the information that we're going to provide today, our listeners will be able to start figuring out what to do with some of them, because no matter how big or small that spring project is, your trash bin is not the catch-all for all of it. So is that correct, ladies? Oh my gosh, yes.
Speaker 3:And if you're ever like not sure what to do with this or that, there's always recyclerightorg. It's a one-stop location where you can type in whatever material you're thinking about that you know doesn't go into your trash can. It'll pop up a map of the county and all the information of the businesses or locations that take that material.
Speaker 1:Thanks for sharing that. Well. Speaking of the landfill, kim, I know our operations are quite impressive. Tell our audience a little bit about what comes to the landfill and some of the statistics that are eye-opening.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I always have a group see if they can try to guess how much waste we get on a daily basis. It's a really large number. We get about 5,000 tons and we go through about why a lot of it is wasted materials. About 76% of what comes to the landfill doesn't actually belong there. We do waste characterization studies where we literally dig through trash to see what folks are throwing away, not to judge right, but to like figure out where the public is on their diversion journey, and we use those numbers to help bolster our messaging or find new programs or partnerships to help get those materials out of the landfill.
Speaker 1:So equally impressive, Kim, you take thousands of school-aged children into the landfill every year as part of our classroom curriculum. What sort of things do they see and learn about while they're on a tour here at SWACO?
Speaker 3:So they do come into our classroom at first and teachers have some opportunities to pick different types of programs so we can talk about composting and how nature recycles and dig into the worm bin, or we can have a more informational type discussion about the waste stream here in Franklin County and the landfill operations. So those are some of the different opportunities that are here when kids come, but the big show really is out on the landfill. I was just reading some lovely letters that I got from a school thanking me for teaching them all about recycling and a lot of them have even said they thought it was going to be boring but they really had the best time. And they tell me that they want to drive a compactor or they really liked watching the tipper. So it really is a great experience to come actually see where your trash goes.
Speaker 2:And Kim. I think I may have told you this story before, but when I first started here I was early in my career and really wasn't sure about who did what. And about 20 kids came flying into this building and were asking me am I the tour guide? And I was like, no, but I will find a person for you. And they said call Kim. So I had to find you fast.
Speaker 3:Right back in the day before my building was open. My building was open, yeah.
Speaker 2:Is it possible for individuals and groups to ever tour the landfill, and do they have to sign up? Or how does that go about? Not just schools, but like an individual for myself, if I wanted to come and just tour the landfill?
Speaker 3:Sure, it's not just for kids. We take in all kinds of groups. You could be in a civic organization or an owner of a business or a church group. Any kind of adult group can reach out Tours at Swaygoorg. It comes directly to me and we'll get you on the schedule to come out for a tour.
Speaker 1:Wow, kim, you mentioned that the majority of items that come to the landfill could have been reused, recycled or even composted. So Joe and I put together a list of things that listeners may be wondering what to do with, and we thought nothing could be more fun or more fitting than running those questions by you. So let me ask you I'll kick it off. With the recent time change, we were given reminders to change the batteries in things like our clocks and our smoke detectors, but properly disposing of those batteries is crucial. What's the best way to go about doing that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so when it comes, to your regular household batteries, the double A's, triple A's. Those can just be brought to one of our convenience centers or HHW site that I mentioned before. When it comes to the lithium ion batteries, I would recommend you separate those out and put them in a small Ziploc bag so they do not accidentally catch fire during transportation. Those are the only ones that you do need to separate, and again, we'll also take the lithium-ion batteries. Any type of battery both of the SWICO facilities will gladly accept for free.
Speaker 2:And I know batteries. We have posted a lot and I know I've mentioned it as well in different articles about the dangers that it presents to all of our recycle and waste workers around the country, so it's very important for people to please dispose of those properly. I haven't changed oil in quite a long time in my car. However, if I chose to do that, or my gas mower and I want to toss away that oil, where can I take that?
Speaker 4:Both of those facilities that I just mentioned before. So the HHW site that's near the fairgrounds, 645 East 8th Avenue, will be glad to take your gasoline or your oil, and then our Suico Convenience Center will also be glad to take your oil, but at this time we do not have an outlet for gasoline.
Speaker 1:Well, let's stick to yard waste for a second. What is your advice on grass trimmings? Is it better to mulch it, or should we be filling those yard waste bags to their brim?
Speaker 2:This one I want to know the answer to because I fight every year on this one.
Speaker 3:Sure, so I would mulch it in place, keeping those nutrients at dead grass. It's going to decompose. Nature's going to do its job right and use all the good nutrients that are in that cut grass. It's going to stay right in your lawn and help everything stay healthier.
Speaker 4:And if you do really want to bag you have an excess amount of mulched clippings you can bag them, put them in a brown paper bag or a container that's clearly marked for yard waste, so that way that yard waste hauler knows that that container contains yard waste.
Speaker 3:There's always composting too. That's good advice.
Speaker 2:So we have some good news. I heard about latex paint and reusing it. Amy, we'll start with you. What is that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so Sweco's Convenience Center is now able to work with a partner called M25M, based out of Cincinnati, to re-blend good condition latex paint, and so this paint is then being reused to build communities that have suffered from a natural disaster. So it's a really great story of reuse that our community is helping to support.
Speaker 1:That is just incredible. Similarly, what about clothing and textile donations? I know we're collecting these at the Recycling Convenience Center and they're going to partners here in Central Ohio, but can you talk a little bit about the types of things that Goodwill or VOA might accept?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean if it's good like wearable. Still, you know there's no holes in the armpit or holes in the knees. Good clothing and good textiles are always accepted at charity shops around town.
Speaker 1:And we even take some of those at the Recycling Convenience Center. We do.
Speaker 4:We do take good condition clothing and small household goods and shoes at the Convenience Center. I will say if the clothing is at its last leg and maybe it has a stain or it is holy, think of other ways that you could repurpose it around the house. Turn it into a rag. I've used my old scraps to hang up my seedlings in my garden so they don't fall over. So just try to get creative around your house before you donate the clothing.
Speaker 1:I feel like a simple Google search would return so many creative ideas. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Pinterest is your friend, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I have to get a Pinterest. So, kim and Amy, thank you for a nice job of explaining all the differences there, but let's talk a little bit about the other aspects of your jobs that are really kicking in with spring here, and that's the many events you attend broadly. How many events do each of you help organize in a given year?
Speaker 3:I see lots of kids. It was over 5,000 people last year. We actually had a virtual tour as well that reached 3,400 more people across the country. So this time of year is really my busy season, from about March to May, and then, of course, in the fall about October to December, when school is and teachers are reaching out. I'm doing sometimes two and three tours in a day.
Speaker 2:And Amy being the outreach administrator, you're always out and about.
Speaker 4:I think so. It feels like I'm always out and about. I work most of the weekends. I attend about 40 events a year and then another 20 or so public presentations with civic associations, rotary Clubs, and then I also help implement recycling at over 40 events in Franklin County every year. And these are public events that we all go to Think ComFest, pride, the Arts Council, the Arts Festival. Stay really busy, yeah, lots of Earth Day events too.
Speaker 3:So if Amy can't head up a place on a weekend, then that's where I come to fill in.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, and Kim, you have another big tour coming up in May. What can you tell us about that?
Speaker 3:Sure, this is our next public tour. So I do public tours about every other month. I try to do at least six in a year. They're always on Saturday mornings and the next one is on May 31st. So if you're interested in coming out and seeing the landfill, what we do out here, then feel free. Send me an email, toursatswegoorg. And if you can't come to me for a tour of the landfill, I can come to you. So school teachers, classroom teachers, I'm talking to you. But camps, daycares, all kinds of things the summer fills up with summer camps and with daycare programs. So I am happy to come to you if you are not able to come down here to the landfill, and it's free.
Speaker 2:And I know our spring calendar is already getting packed. Our listeners probably would like to know what is coming up. What are some of the events that are coming up in the next, let's just say, three months?
Speaker 3:Well, there is a Seeds of Caring event at the Autobahn. It's a family event, lots of fun, hands-on activities, lots of opportunities for learning.
Speaker 4:And then we'll also be at the Downtown Green Columbus Earth Day Festival. It's on April 27th and that's a great event for all kinds of environmentally friendly organizations to come out for you, to talk, to get your questions answered. There'll be beer served, there'll be food vendors environmentally friendly vendors as well selling different things like clothing and candles.
Speaker 1:That's great, amy. I know you mentioned earlier that there's a household hazardous waste event in Dublin on April 5th, but I also recall that SWACO hosts a pharmaceutical collection event in the spring. Is that on April 26th this?
Speaker 4:year? I think so. Yeah, that's April 26th, from 10 to 2. And there are a number of participating locations. So far, there's at least 15 participating locations that have signed up. To find the full list of locations, you can go to the DEA Take Back Day website to find all the participating spots.
Speaker 1:That's great, and I think you can easily get to that website through SWACOorg. Is that also a good place to go to find out about these events that you were both speaking about? Swacoorg? Is that also a good place to go to find out about these events that you were both speaking about?
Speaker 4:SWACOorg is a great location to check out to find out where the education outreach team will be all month of April and May.
Speaker 3:On April 30th we have a COSI event coming up here at SWACO. So every year COSI has a big science festival at their location off Broad Street, but we do a community event here at the landfill. So that's going to be on April 30th. We'll have some fun activities out here. We'll be planting some seedlings, some milkweed and maybe some of those native plants. We'll have the worms out. We'll do some tours as well, at the landfill. That starts at 3 pm. We've got tours starting out. We'll do some tours as well. The landfill. That starts at 3 pm. We've got tours starting 3.15 and 4.15. It is through Grove City Parks and Recreation so you do have to register for that event.
Speaker 1:That's great, and how convenient that someone can just go to SWACOorg to get all of these details. So, as we start to wrap things up, is there an item or items associated with spring cleaning that people think, oh, I can't recycle or reuse that, so I'll just throw it away. But you guys know they can actually reuse it or recycle it.
Speaker 3:What would that be? Well, I always like to remind folks to look in every room of your house, like that little paper tube that your toilet paper was on, that's recyclable. Your shampoo bottle, your laundry detergent bottle. So there's recycling in every part of your house, it's not just the pantry or kitchen.
Speaker 4:I'm the person that gathers up all the recyclables throughout all the rooms and takes them to the centralized location in the kitchen. You ever do that at home?
Speaker 3:Yes, and every once in a while I'll be like who put this there in the trash can and the kid will come running like I'm sorry, I forgot.
Speaker 4:I don't know what I was thinking. This is recyclable. We get a lot of questions about aerosol cans and shredded paper, so I'm going to break it down for everyone here. Shredded paper you know, tax season's upon us. Maybe you're working on clearing out your old tax documents, trying to go digital and you're shredding your sensitive documents.
Speaker 4:Shredded paper can be recycled, but it should be in a clear plastic bag. This is the only time the recycler here in Columbus ever wants to have materials bagged, and it's really so. They know that you prep the material for recycling. They can get it off the conveyor belt and ensure that it gets with all the other paper. A pro tip to you if you're a backyard composter is you can also compost your shredded paper. You don't even have to mess with that plastic bag, which is what I do at home. It breaks down pretty quickly and it's a great source of carbon for your compost. And then aerosol cans that don't contain hazardous materials. So if you're pledging your wood furniture at home, you are using an oven cleaner and an aerosol can. Do your best to make sure the contents of the can are empty. Remove the plastic tip and then you can actually recycle that aerosol can.
Speaker 2:And Kim at home. I'm the one that my wife leaves everything on the counter and makes me make the decision on where it goes, because she doesn't want to be the one getting in trouble.
Speaker 3:So I get text messages from my parents too.
Speaker 2:Well, amy and Kim, thank you for joining us today and to our listeners please, if you're out and about at these events, stop by and see Amy or see Kim and make sure that you get to SWACOorg. If you want to take a tour of our landfill or if you have a group of people that want to have an education day, reach out to Kim on that. Don't forget to visit our recycling center at 2566 Jackson Pike. If you'd like to know more about what we do, as we've been saying, visit our website anytime at SWACOorg.
Speaker 1:And if you're listening and have ideas for a future podcast episode, connect with us on any of our social channels or you can always drop us an email. Until the next time, this is Waste Ed a waste and recycling podcast by SWACO and Recycling Podcast by Swako.