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
WastEd Celebrates a Full Year of Podcasts and Waste Reduction Wins
The final show of the year brings the whole journey into focus: a million pounds of food headed to the landfill each day, plastics evolving from confusion to circular products, and a community that keeps asking sharper questions about what belongs in the bin. Joe and Hanna revisit our most-played episodes: food waste work with local partners, a behind-the-scenes tour at Columbus Zoo, and transforming plastics into new life as countertops and store-ready products. It all adds up to what those downloads reveal about what matters most to Central Ohio.
Hanna and Joe also open the door to the real work of making a podcast: booking guests, aligning calendars, and choosing the right name were more than logistics, they were exercises in clarity. WastEd stuck because education is the thread: practical steps residents can take today, and system-level changes cities and businesses can implement too.
Looking ahead, we outline 2026 Greenprint priorities: more support for schools and multi-unit housing, targeted help for businesses, new grants to lower the barrier for composting and reuse, and stronger ties with public services, construction and logistics teams. Expect deeper work on hard-to-recycle materials, cleaner curbside lists, and more on-the-road stories that show circularity in action. If you care about reducing waste, saving money, and building a healthier region, there’s a place for you in this effort. Subscribe, share this episode with a neighbor, and leave a review with one question you want answered next year. Happy holidays and keep listening in 2026!
Welcome to Waste Dead. A waste and recycling podcast by Swaco. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our last podcast episode of 2025. I'm Hannah Greer Brown, Director of Communications here at Swayco.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm Joe Lombardi, the executive director here at Swaco. And Hannah, where did this year go? I mean, it just flew by.
SPEAKER_00:I cannot believe we're already looking at uh a new year that's gonna be here in just a matter of weeks.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and you know what's fun, though, this episode, we have no guests. It's just you and I talking about the podcast over the last year. And, you know, really got to thank uh Scott Light and Lighthouse Communications who has produced uh for us. And um, this is gonna be fun because it's just gonna be you and I and having a little bit of fun with uh what we did over the last year.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like the pressure is really on. Not only do we have to be good hosts, we have to be good interviewers as well.
SPEAKER_01:So that's right. We have a year under our belt. Um, what's been the most surprising about doing this podcast to you? What was the most surprising thing?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think uh Joe, I've really been surprised by how much I look forward to doing this every month. It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun too. And I just really appreciate your invitation to be a part of this.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, it was because of you we got this. So it was an idea, but you you brought it to fruition. But yeah, I think that is the the most surprising thing to me is the the amount of work that goes into doing a podcast. You know, when you listen to them, you just think, ah, they just sit down and boom. But there's there's a lot to it than just sitting down and talking about it.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, yeah. Primarily booking guests and wrangling everybody's schedules is what we're challenging.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's that's tough. The calendars you're you know, I know you and I are always stressed when we try to get a date, and then you know, we can't get somebody, and then we have to pivot. So, but it's been fun. It's been fun, and we and and we'll I know we're gonna talk a little bit about some of the guests that we've had on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it has been fun. I don't know about you, but I also felt like a big sense of responsibility when it came to naming the podcast when we initially came up with this idea.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, but thankfully, per usual, the team here at Swaco came through.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and you know, I always tell everybody the story. Um, you know, we were trying to, if you remember, we were trying to come up with it. And uh Gary McGary McDaniel, who is our safety managers, we were talking about wasted, right? And and he's like, Well, why don't you emphasize it as waste ed, like waste education? And I think you and I both look at each other, that's pretty darn good. That's great. So, yeah, so that's thank you, Gary, for for setting us up and getting us started. So thank you. Hey, let's start with a top five countdown of our most popular episodes. Um, you know, coming in at number five, uh, we talked about a topic we could probably devote every episode to, which was food waste. And our guest was our own, Sarah Gallagher, and we talked about her work with the Bud Dairy Hall and Kitty's Cakes and Joyas. And, you know, she has done such a tremendous job with our food waste champions program.
SPEAKER_00:Such an important topic. Um, as Sarah touched upon in that episode, nearly a million pounds of food is coming to the landfill every single day. And Sarah and her team are just really kind of geared up and working with a lot of different partners like Bud Dairy Food Hall, Kitty's Cakes, and Joyas, which she spoke about in that episode, um, just to help us reach our goals to prevent even more food waste and keep more of that material from coming to the landfill.
SPEAKER_01:For our listeners, our fourth most popular episode was our chat with Sam at Rewash, Refillery, and Simone from Goodwill at ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
SPEAKER_00:And that was such an important conversation. And I love that we were able to get those two women to come on and talk to us at the same time we were launching our new Choose to Reuse campaign. I think that was our earth day episode, and the timing was just perfect. So uh, Sam and Simone, if you're listening, thank you. You made it in the top five.
SPEAKER_01:Coming in at number three, as they say, the most popular episode was one of our first on the road episodes where we went to the Columbus Zoo. First of all, it was hot. If you remember, and we went for that little walk after in suits, and it was brutally hot that day. Uh, but it was a ton of fun. Uh, you know, our guests were, you know, their executive director, Tom Schmidt, and uh Christina Blazer, their sustainability director. So, what do you remember beside the fact that it was like 95 and 100% humanity?
SPEAKER_00:It was very hot. We got that very cool behind-the-scenes tour. Look at the animals and the new habitats. I think one of their new exhibits that just opened that weekend. Um, but I love that they talked about their high diversion rate and how they're diverting um lots of food waste into uh feed for animals. I thought that was so cool. They really are are living their mission and kind of walking the walk there at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
SPEAKER_01:In a zoo, so cool to begin with. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And that was, you're right. That was only, I think we only did two on the road episodes this year, and that was one of the two. So maybe we'll do more of that in 2027.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um, so and coming in at number two was Recycling Revolution, how plastic waste becomes stunning countertops. And this was Joseph Clatt.
SPEAKER_00:Yep, he's the owner and CEO of Marble Plastics. And Joe, this would have been my guess. Uh just the conversation about plastics. Um, I think our community is really focused on that and they want to be able to recycle as much plastic as possible. And Joseph did an awesome job showing us how he's making beautiful countertops out of those little bread tags and other kind of plastics that aren't currently accepted recycled, you know, curbside. So um I am not surprised that he came in at number two.
SPEAKER_01:All right. I'm gonna ask you. Yeah, a little drum roll, a little brrrr. Is that what they do for the drum roll? Our number one most popular podcast for 2025 was one of our very first episodes we recorded, and we owe a big thank you to our friends at Coat Consolidated and Rumpkey for helping us put this together.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. It was titled From Your Curb to Store Shelves Recycling Plastics in Ohio Works. And it was one of the most downloaded episodes since we first started producing the podcast a little over a year ago.
SPEAKER_01:It seems like it was just yesterday, but they were. They were one of the first. And and I think if I remember, Todd was in his car. Yes, and and he was so excited about doing it, he said he would just do it from his car. And he he did great.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he and Amanda were great guests. And I really think the fact that the top two most downloaded podcasts were about plastics really does speak to the community's interest in that topic. And so um, they want to be able, our I think our community that we serve wants to be able to recycle as much plastic as possible. And I think it's uh heartening to know that in recent years we've added things to the list of recyclables, such as yogurt plastic yogurt cups, clear clamshells, and even those plastic drink cups are now accepted at the curb.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and I want to make sure to our listeners, we're not saying the other 12 or so were not good episodes. These were the ones that were downloaded the most. We had some tremendous guests. Every guest we have has been great. Uh, they brought a different perspective. So I just want to make sure we're clear on that. These were these were just downloads.
SPEAKER_00:It was an incredible year. You're right. We had so many fabulous guests. So thank you to all of them for participating. Well, as host, we always ask our guests about the questions they get on their respective efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Joe, what are some of the most popular questions you get when you're out and out and about on behalf of Swaco?
SPEAKER_01:Well, the one question I get asked a lot is by my own family. My kids always ask, Dad, what do you do? Yeah. And I try to tell them, they're like, So what is your job? And I tell them, I am a visionary. I I I lead and I'm a visionary, and I have great staff. And and again, they'll go, what do you do? And so uh, but the real question that I get a lot of is, you know, what keeps you up at night and and what are you doing to um, you know, help reduce the amount of material that's coming in landfill. And really what keeps me up at night, I tell them, is this population growth that's coming to Central Ohio, knowing that we only have one landfill here in Ohio in Columbus, and uh we really want to make sure that we do everything we can to divert that, which is why we're always out in our communities trying to get them to help us to do likewise to help our mission. So that's probably the number one question is you know, what keeps you up at night? What do you worry about?
SPEAKER_00:And well, the good news is we've got a team of dedicated professionals here at Swaco who are helping to change that. So uh hopefully that can put your mind at ease as we head into 2026. Yep. Um, I don't know. I feel like I get a lot of questions just about who Swaco is and what we do and how we're different than Rumke. And I just remind people um that we own the municipal solid waste landfill here in Central Ohio. So that gives us a really unique but also holistic look at what's being thrown away. And then we're designing recycling programs to be able to help capture those materials that are otherwise sent to the landfill and keep them out of here. So uh Rumpke's a great partner of ours, but we have very different jobs and um really just try to educate people on who we are and what we do.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So uh hosting a podcast, easier or harder than you thought?
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna say harder. There is a lot that goes into organizing and preparing for these each month. So while it's fun, it is a lot of hard work. What about you?
SPEAKER_01:It it it was it was much harder than I thought. I I think for me, as you know, you work with me every day, and and you know, I'm a talker to begin with. And to say we only have 30 minutes, I always had to make sure I knew that. And and I talk with my hands, and I and you don't want to hit the table and all the little things that you didn't know about. Um that that was tough for me because I had to make sure my hands were always steady. Yeah. And so, but it was much harder. It's there's a lot more to it than I had thought.
SPEAKER_00:Can you imagine if we were on video in addition to audio?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's on our blessings. I'm kind of glad it's audio. I got a face for radio, so it's perfect.
SPEAKER_00:Well, like we said, this series has been so much fun to produce, but it does take a lot of planning and organization and a lot of outreach to our community partners who have been so gracious in joining us on the podcast each month. Joe, tell our listeners a little bit about the ideas we have for 2026.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I'm looking forward to um our budget uh that's coming up soon here in December. And um, but before that, some of our uh guests that we're thinking about, um, we really like to look at maybe bringing in um uh Tim Swagger and Kelly Scoko, who are with the public service department at the City of Columbus, to see how you know our partnership with them and the stuff that they're doing with Keep Columbus Beautiful, and you know, like to look at some uh construction companies and find out what they're doing in terms of recycling the material or using that material for other projects instead of just bringing them to the landfill. Uh, I'd love to get another solid waste district uh in Ohio on. That'd be great to hear the perspectives uh to see that we're all kind of doing the same thing from you know, regardless if I'm in Cleveland or Toledo or Columbus. Um, you know, maybe uh a logistics company or two to talk about the work that they're doing at the commercial level because they do such a great job. And as you know, there's the there's a carry family who they did a great article, I think it was in the dispatch or um the two men in a junk truck, and what a great article. I'd love to get them on just to hear what they're doing and figure out a way that we could partner with them and you know, just you know, our our hometown favorite clippers and and the crew and and just try to get some of those folks on. And uh, you know, that's just some of the thoughts, like I said earlier. I've got all the great ideas. I don't know if they'll all work, but we'll see what happens.
SPEAKER_00:That's great.
SPEAKER_01:So, Hannah, I rattled through some of my ideas. It'd be great. What what's on your mind for 2026 in terms of guests?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think um excited to talk to all of the people that you mentioned. Um, I'm also thinking about maybe just cardboard. We know that's uh um material that we see a lot that comes to the landfill and it could easily be diverted. And so partners like Amazon or Grife might be great guests to come in and talk about how they um how you can recycle their cardboard boxes. Well, I'm optimistic we'll get all those partners next year. Speaking of next year, Joe, you just presented our budget in 2026 work plan to our board. Give our listeners a few of those highlights and big initiatives that we're gonna be working on next year.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, pretty exciting times, I think. Um, you know, I know the staff's pretty excited about it. You know, I really looking forward to implementing some of the action from our green print, um, especially when it comes to food waste and hard to recycled materials. Uh, the work that we're doing in our schools, providing some additional resources that our schools program is going to give to our teachers and our students, um, more and more assistance to our businesses and multi-unit and our communities in general, and to continue to use our grants to help offset any cost that uh our communities or events are trying to do to do do their part to help us with our mission. And, you know, I I just learned this during this process. You know, our outreach folks uh are kind of the unsung heroes because they're kind of out there outside the bubble and they're working with more people than you know any of us. Um, they've reached almost 10,000 residents uh last year just at events. And you know, we did the Nelly concert, and that was so cool. Uh, I think you were there, I think you remember that. Yeah. Um, and you know, just just continuing with our tour. So a lot more to come on that, but that that's probably just a real high level of what that budget uh is going to invest in this year.
SPEAKER_00:Well, without a doubt, we are going to be busy in 2026. Uh, Joe, on the subject of green print, that was another fun project to name. I don't know if you remember all of the ideas we kind of sorted through. Uh Reimagined Blueprint was one I kind of threw at you. And then given your love of sports, I sent a through a few sports-themed ideas your way. I think there was the sustainability playbook and maybe the green goal framework. But man, I'm glad you picked green print. It's such a playful spin on the words blueprint and fingerprint. And I think it really conveys what you wanted to that Swaco has a roadmap for building central Ohio sustainability, and we're really leaving our mark on this community.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, thank you. And and that was fun. Uh it took us a minute, but every time I think every time we came up with a name, someone already had it or somebody was already using it. But yeah, green print with the thumbprint on it. It's it's perfect. Yeah, it's perfect.
SPEAKER_00:Well, lots and lots coming your way in 2026. So please tell your neighbors and friends about Waste Ed. We're only going to get bigger and better. If you're curious about anything we're doing now or have an idea for us, Joe, why don't you give them this the Suaco web address?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so the Swaco web address, Swaco.org. And I again I want to thank you, Hannah, uh, for being a co-host and and keeping me in line and making sure I'm I'm always ready for these uh podcasts. And you know, to Scott for producing and being willing to be uh willing to be flexible with us at times, and more importantly, to our listeners. Thank you for downloading the podcast, listening to what we have to say, tell your friends and family about us. Uh it's a very educational podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Couldn't have said it better myself. So to all of our listeners, we will see you in the new year. Happy holidays.
SPEAKER_01:Happy holidays, everyone.