COLUMBUS, OH -- Twenty of Ohio's largest cities now offer curbside recycling in some form to their residents, according to a study released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Services included are fee-based curbside pick up; free curbside pick up; and a combination of pick-up and drop-off recycling.
ODNR's Division of Recycling & Litter Prevention conducted its first-ever study of recycling in Ohio's 22 largest cities. The study seeks to establish baseline data on the cities' successes in meeting Ohio's Solid Waste Management Plan goal of a 50 percent overall recycling rate.
"Urban areas, or areas of high-density populations, are sources of large volumes of recycling materials," said Michael Canfield, chief of the Division of Recycling & Litter Prevention. "It's great to see city managers are focusing their efforts to provide residents with environmentally sound options in the disposal of these materials."
The study will also allow ODNR to assess residential recycling services in the state and the opportunities to expand those services. About 30 percent of Ohio's 11.2 million residents, or 3.2 million people, live in the surveyed cities.
The 22 cities surveyed were Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Columbus, Cuyahoga Falls, Dayton, Elyria, Euclid, Hamilton, Kettering, Lakewood, Lorain, Mansfield, Mentor, Middletown, Newark, Parma, Springfield, Toledo and Youngstown. Parma did not respond to the survey.
Six of the cities - Cleveland Heights, Euclid, Mentor, Middletown, Youngstown and Cuyahoga Falls - provide curbside recycling service to all residents.
Other cities are making efforts to improve collection and efficiency. Canton, currently without recycling services, is discussing the potential of citywide curbside recycling.
Columbus is implementing a pilot project to enhance efficiency, using containers that separate trash from recyclables. Lakewood is expanding its program to include mixed paper collection. Toledo will soon expand from partial to citywide curbside recycling.
The entire text of ODNR's large city recycling report and an executive summary of the findings are available on the agency's web site at www.dnr.state.oh.us .