Taking Out the Trash with SWACO

Tim Fulton 00:08Welcome to the Confluence Cast, presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, we are taking out the trash. Columbus Underground co-founder Walker Evans sat down with Joe Lombardi, the executive director of the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, or SWACO. They discuss the strategies they are putting in place for a sustainable future, practical tips on reducing waste, and ways to celebrate sustainably this holiday season. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theConfluenceCast.com. This episode of the Confluence Cast is brought to you with support from SWACO. SWACO is Central Ohio's source for waste reduction, recycling, and composting information. To learn more, visit swaco.org. Enjoy the interview.

Walker Evans 01:12Sitting down here today with Joe Lombardi, the executive director of SWACO. Joe, thanks for sitting down with us today.

Joe Lombardi 01:17Thanks for having me. This is a great opportunity.

Walker Evans 01:20Yeah. So, SWACO — Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio. That's correct, for the acronym. For anyone unfamiliar — I'm sure everyone's seen the word SWACO, you know, on a recycling bin or a dumpster somewhere in the city — can you tell us what is SWACO? What does it do? Who is SWACO?

Joe Lombardi 01:36Sure. SWACO was created in the '80s as part of House Bill 592 out of the state of Ohio, which created 52 solid waste districts throughout Ohio. We are one of those 52. We take care of all the waste management. We own the landfill here in central Ohio. We are responsible for 41 communities. We also provide programs, resources, education, and grants to help other communities in their waste reduction and recycling efforts.

Walker Evans 02:15Nice. What existed before SWACO? Was it every community kind of individually handling this sort of stuff, each suburb and each city?

Joe Lombardi 02:24They — we called them dumps back then. And so every industry, every organization was different. And so the state of Ohio, to combat a lot of out-of-state trash that was coming into Ohio, and to safely dispose of that waste, created solid waste districts. Really, the goal was to stop the reliance on landfills and create programs to divert that material away from landfills.

Walker Evans 02:57Yeah, yeah. So, anyone watching the YouTube or the video version of this can maybe see behind us the large mountain in the background, which I believe is central Ohio's largest.

Joe Lombardi 03:06It is. It is. It is the tallest point in central Ohio.

Walker Evans 03:11Does it have an official name? People kind of say, you know, it's Mount some —

Joe Lombardi 03:15Mount Rumpke, right? So there's always some kind of funny nicknames.

Walker Evans 03:21Yeah. Tell us a little bit about this, you know, because anyone driving down 71, if they're headed down towards Cincinnati, kind of sees it in passing. But I imagine a lot of people have been up there on a tour.

Joe Lombardi 03:33Right. And we do give tours, if folks are interested. It's a great tour. It's fun. There's a lot more engineering to it than you think there is. There's a lot to it. So we bring in about a million tons a year with our 41 communities. It is what we call a sanitary landfill. So it is permitted through the Ohio EPA. There are regulations that we must conform to to make sure that it is safe for our environment, safe for our community. And being in an urban setting is a challenge. Most landfills are not in an urban setting like we are. But we are probably one of the best-run landfills in central Ohio, and we're kind of a model to other landfills throughout the state.

Walker Evans 04:17Nice. Yeah, I would just recommend, if people are going to tour, go in the colder months, because it doesn't have as much of a strong smell.

Joe Lombardi 04:24You might not get as much of a smell. For a big mountain of waste, it's relatively not that much smell once you get up there. Yeah, it's pretty incredible what our men and women do each day to keep that odor down.

Walker Evans 04:39Nice. So the landfill is one component of what SWACO does. I want to talk about recycling as well, because obviously that's kind of the biggest component. What is the goal, and I guess the role, of SWACO when it comes to recycling?

Joe Lombardi 04:51Yeah. So, as we mentioned earlier, one of the goals for us is to divert as much material away from that landfill to extend the life of it. It's very hard to just site a landfill anywhere. So we want to extend the life by getting products out of that landfill. So we have a robust programs section that does education. Recycle Right is a campaign that we do to educate and make folks aware of how to recycle, what to recycle, what can be recycled. One of the interesting things is we did a waste characterization study in 2018, and that study showed us that 76% of what's coming into that landfill can be reused, recycled, or repurposed. So 76% of what you see out there doesn't need to be in there. It can be recycled. So our goal is to make our communities aware, to educate them, to give them grants to help with their program.

Walker Evans 05:53Yeah, I know there's always a lot of confusion between plastic types, and the numbers on the labels — is a yogurt container recyclable, and all that sort of stuff. So it's great to see a lot of that consumer information out there. You know, a lot of times we focus on the recycle part of the three R's, reduce and reuse being big components as well. Do you think there are things we need to be doing better in central Ohio to kind of eliminate, you know, the use of single-use plastics and things like that?

Joe Lombardi 06:22Yeah, I think that's very important. A lot of people understand the recycling side. The reuse and repurpose is really the thing that we're going to try to start focusing on in 2024. For example, you know, food is a big material that comes in our landfill — represents 15% of what comes in. It's our largest material that we can divert out of there. You know, you could compost food waste. And even before that, to reduce how much food that you bring to your household, make a grocery list for the week. Leftovers — freeze up what can be frozen and reused. We just opened up a convenience center about a month ago, where we're accepting bicycles and old appliances, things of that nature. And when you take a bicycle, there's a group that's going to redo them and refix them and renovate them and give them back to children that can't afford a bicycle. So not only are we able to get that bicycle back into our community, but we're giving it to people that need it.

Walker Evans 07:30That's awesome. Yeah, where's the center located?

Joe Lombardi 07:33The center is located on Jackson Pike, right at our transfer station on Jackson Pike. It'll be open Monday through Friday from, I think it's 9:30 to six, and then on the weekends 9:30 to four.

Walker Evans 07:51Nice. Yeah, I know there's a lot of great opportunities throughout the year as well for, like, e-waste, you know, sites that will pick up and help people recycle things like that and batteries — things that are just harder to determine, you know, should this go in the trash, or should this go in recycling? You know, the harder things. I know that there's also some new composting drop-off locations in the city as well.

Joe Lombardi 08:12Yeah, so the City of Columbus just instituted, I believe, three food waste drop-offs at some of the recreation centers. Our new convenience center will allow for food drop-offs, and we're in the process right now of adding more food waste drop-offs. Also, some of our communities have curbside — Bexley, one of our probably most aggressive communities in sustainability, has a curbside drop-off program. Upper Arlington, Hilliard — so they're all starting to get into food waste drop-offs. I believe Grandview has a good-sized one right at the bottom of the hill on Goodale and Grandview Avenue. Yeah, folks can just take their food waste and put them in bins, and a company comes and picks them up and composts. It's nice.

Walker Evans 09:01We are about to head into the holidays, which is a big time of year for celebration, for parties, for travel, for gift giving. I imagine you see an uptick in waste and recycling and all this sort of stuff. Are there educational campaigns or guidelines you try and get out in the community to help with some of that?

Joe Lombardi 09:22Absolutely. According to the Ohio EPA, 25% more trash comes in during the holidays. Really — your wrapping papers, your cardboard boxes, food waste, obviously, for the holidays. And so we put out a green holiday guide. If you visit our website, swaco.org, it will give you some tips on how to be more sustainable during the holidays. One of the things we talk about is, donate some of your old decorations, and maybe your old lights — you can bring it to a convenience center and drop them off. We also talk about breaking down your cardboard boxes that your new TV is coming in. And the Styrofoam, now we're accepting at that convenience center. So you could bring your Styrofoam there and drop it off instead of putting it into your waste. So I would tell people that are listening to go to swaco.org and look for the holiday guide, and it will give them all the tips that they need to be more sustainable.

Walker Evans 10:24Yeah, keep those Christmas trees out. That's right. Yes, don't belong there. Obviously, big time for food waste as well, you know, a lot of holiday cooking, parties, all that sort of stuff. So that's some great information to learn about. As we head into 2024, you talked a little bit about some of the goals. Are there other programs or initiatives that you're working on for next year?

Joe Lombardi 10:47Yeah, so just this week, our board passed our 2024 budget and our new strategic plan for the next four years, with a new vision. Our new vision is to make this a sustainable future for our region. And our mission has changed a little bit. We want to have transformational programs and safe waste disposal. So we're pretty excited about this new strategic plan. We're going to be looking at adding additional funding for grants to provide to our communities for waste reduction. We're really going to hit our businesses — our commercial businesses are about 60% of what comes in our landfill. So we're working on a business recycling program, trying to get that program moving. So we're going to add additional staff to that. I'm a big proponent of education. I think our kids are great ambassadors for recycling and sustainability. And that's why we changed our vision to a sustainable region for the future — because they are the future, and we need to give them a better place to live. And so we're going to hit the schools, we're going to try to get to the young people, especially in elementary and middle schools, and keep making them aware. And then they come home and make us aware of when we do things wrong.

Walker Evans 12:07I mean, it's their planet and future, so make sure it's still here for them. Just a quick endorsement of the grant program. We've been a recipient of that for some of the events that we produce. So the Columbus Coffee Festival — we've gotten some SWACO grants, which have been great to help us compost, because we go through so much coffee at the Coffee Festival, and the grounds are compostable. And so trying to make that as low-impact, as much of a zero-waste event as we can, has been a big goal of ours. Great to hear. Yeah, we're grateful for the support and making that happen.

Joe Lombardi 12:38That grant program is outstanding. I mean, we've given grants to a lot of our communities who have really created programs that have — you know, at the start, we helped them through, with resources and education and trying to figure out logistics, but they've kind of taken it on and they've done it well. We've got a great community here in central Ohio, and our recycling rate is 54%. We just learned that earlier this year.

Walker Evans 13:07Is that on the residential side, business side? That is everywhere?

Joe Lombardi 13:12That is everywhere. It's everywhere. And, you know, while that's great, it moved from 51% from the last year. So it's only a 3% tick, but it's great. We're moving in the right direction. So, you know, we keep trying to make people aware. I think that's really what we need to do — is be more aggressive in our PR of what is recyclable. I think a lot of people are confused, and they still don't know what can go in there, what can't go in there. So we're going to keep pushing and keep trying to make more people aware.

Walker Evans 13:47Nice. So we'd like to end every episode of the Confluence Cast with sort of a two-part question. This doesn't have to be in relation to, you know, recycling, waste management, any of that sort of stuff. What is Columbus doing well, and what could Columbus be doing a better job of? What are you doing not so well? You can take those in either order.

Joe Lombardi 14:09Yeah, sure. So I think, you know, we kind of touched on it there, what we're doing well, in terms of our diversion and our awareness. I think our communities are very engaged, and they're very interested in trying to be a more sustainable community. I think it's really about the welfare and the health of a community. I think we work together well in central Ohio. I think all of our communities come together for a common cause, and they do that well. What we can do better at — I think we can probably try to figure out more ways to make recycling, food waste, and reuse more of a common day-to-day thought in people's heads. We still have people who believe that the recycling isn't being recycled. And, you know, 80% of what is recycled here in central Ohio stays either in central Ohio or Ohio itself. So there's companies that rely on those recycled materials. So it's an economics issue as well as an environmental issue. I think our multifamily units are a challenge. We need to figure out a way to provide access to those multi-unit facilities. And that's why convenience centers are so good to have, because they just don't have access at those locations. So we're trying to give them access. But I think those are probably the biggest challenges that we have. And we all know the growth is coming. That has been on the forefront of my mind since sitting down with folks like JobsOhio and One Columbus, and you hear those numbers. And that's just more people that we have to make aware. It's more trash, it's coming, and we do have to try to keep this landfill alive and well for our future. So we'll need to figure out ways to make that happen.

Walker Evans 16:20Great. Joe, thanks for the time today.

Joe Lombardi 16:21Thank you for having me. This has been great.

Tim Fulton 16:35Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast, presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theConfluenceCast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite recycler. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theConfluenceCast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. Our producer is Philip Cogley. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.