COLUMBUS – Earth Week is underway and some Columbus organization are planning some events to mark the celebration.
SWACO has announced its new Recycling Convenience Center, 2566 Jackson Pike, is expanding its list of accepted materials to include large computer monitors and more household hazardous waste such as oil-based, spray paints and latex-based paints.
The drive-up, self-service center which opened in November provides a convenient and accessible location for central Ohio residents to recycle a wide range of hard-to-recycle materials such as used oil, Styrofoam, batteries, electronics, clothing and food
waste, mostly free of charge.
Since its opening just four months ago, the center has diverted nearly 45,000 pounds of material from the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill, SWACO officials said.
Ohio has the fifth most waste in landfills per capita in America, at 53.8 tons per person, according to a study of Environmental Protection Agency data on landfill utilization by IT asset disposal and liquidation experts IT Asset Management Group.
The study found there is a total of more than 632 million tons of waste are in Ohio’s landfills.
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania rank higher than Ohio on the list.
Earth Week at the Zoo
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has planned activities through Friday, including a collection of old single-use alkaline batteries for proper recycling on Monday.
Other Earth Week activities at the Zoo and Aquarium
- Tuesday– Handheld Electronics Recycling Drive benefiting Gorillas on the Line. Accepted items include cell phones/smartphones, iPods, iPads or other tablets, Apple\Android watches, GPS units, MP3 players, e-readers, digital cameras, and handheld gaming systems. Laptops cannot be accepted.
- Wednesday – Styrofoam Recycling Drive in partnership with SWACO. Bring expanded polystyrene Styrofoam to the Zoo on this day so that it can be properly recycled!
- Thursday – Electronic Recycling Drive hosted in partnership with Accurate IT Services
- Friday – Item Donation Drive in partnership with Goodwill