A recycling update

By The Columbus Dispatch  • 


Just because something is recyclable doesn’t mean it belongs in a curbside recycling bin.

Soda bottles? Yes.

Yogurt tubs? No.

Plastic lids? Maybe.

But the process is changing.

Rumpke Recycling, which runs curbside programs in Columbus and many area suburbs, has renovated its recycling center near the Ohio Expo Center and expanded its list of acceptable items.

Now, then, is a good time to review what belongs in the company’s bins, what can be taken elsewhere for recycling and what must be thrown away. Here’s a consumer guide on how and where to dispose of some common items:

Plastic bottles

Curbside bin: Yes. Rumpke will take any bottle-shaped plastic containers, regardless of the number stamped on them. But it won’t take containers that held hazardous waste, such as motor oil or pesticides. Also, Rumpke will discard bottles that have visible liquid remaining in them.

Procedures: Rinse and crush the bottles and put the caps on them (the labels can remain). Rumpke’s new scanning system for sorting plastics works better with containers that aren’t inflated with air. Caps will be recycled only if attached to bottles.

Yogurt tubs

Curbside bin: No.

Alternatives: Save No. 5 plastic containers (yogurt tubs, butter tubs, hummus containers) and take them to Whole Foods, 3670 W. Dublin-Granville Rd., or Weisenbach Recycled Products, 437 Holtzman Ave. (www.recycled


Whole Foods sends them to Preserve, a Massachusetts company that turns them into toothbrushes, disposable razors and other products that are themselves recyclable.

Weisenbach remakes them into funnels and spouts for oil cans or other hazardous materials that shouldn’t be spilled.

Plastic lids

Curbside bin: Yes, for caps attached to bottles. No, for unattached lids.

Alternatives: several Whole Foods outlets take lids marked with the No. 5 recycling symbol.

Weisenbach also takes them. Weisenbach tells consumers that if the lid is flexible and doesn’t break when bent, it’s probably a No. 5 and, therefore,


Weisenbach requests that the lids be clean and have any foam or cardboard inserts removed. In addition to accepting them during business hours at 437 Holtzman Ave., Weisenbach has collection centers at COSI and the Ohio Wildlife Center. (For more details, visit www.capscando.org.)

The Waste Not Center (www.wastenotcenter.org), 2830-B Fisher Rd., accepts clean lids of any kind. The nonprofit organization makes them available to teachers and artists for use in projects.

Juice boxes

Curbside bin: Yes. Rumpke’s new system allows it to accept so-called aseptics, the rectangular containers made of layers of paper, plastic and aluminum foil that hold juice, broth and other liquids.

(The straws that come with juice boxes should be discarded.)

Waxed milk cartons

Curbside bin: Yes. Rumpke now accepts waxed milk and juice cartons.

Plastic grocery bags

Curbside bin: No. They tangle up Rumpke’s conveyors.

Alternatives: Many grocery stores have bins for collecting plastic bags.

Bread bags, plastic film, bubble wrap

Curbside bin: No.

Alternative: Whole Foods accepts polyethylene plastic — the stretchy kind that holds bread or is wrapped around packs of bottled water. Crinkly plastic — potato chip bags, for example — is not accepted. Whole Foods also takes bubble wrap.

Plastic tray from frozen dinner

Curbside bin: No.

Alternative: Waste Not Center

Foam or paper egg cartons

Curbside bin: No. The scanners can’t distinguish them from plastic bottles.

Alternative: Waste Not Center

Polystyrene foam (Styrofoam)

Curbside bin: No.

Alternative: Phoenix Recycling, 2040 S. Hamilton Rd. (www.plastic

scrap.us) accepts clean expanded polystyrene foam. An example would be the white foam that cushions new computers. The company can’t take used carryout food containers or used cups.

The foam can be deposited in a trailer marked “Styrofoam” at Phoenix from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

Plastic berry or salad “clamshells”

Curbside bin: No.

Alternatives: No local recyclers accept them. Clean them and reuse them at home (some people start seeds in them or use them as saucers under potted plants).


Curbside bin: Yes, for all types of metal cans. No, for scrap metal or wire hangers.

Alternatives: Take scrap to a metal dealer and hangers to a dry cleaner.


Curbside bin: Yes. If it’s clean and it tears, it’s bin-worthy. Newspaper, office paper, junk mail, advertising inserts, toilet-paper tubes, frozen-food cartons, phone books and catalogs all belong in the bin. So do pizza boxes if free of grease. (If only the box bottom is greasy, tear off the lid and recycle it.)

Glass bottles and jars

Curbside bin: Yes. But don’t include window glass, drinking glasses or ceramic items such as dishes.

Building materials

Curbside bin: No.

Alternative: The Habitat for Humanity ReStores at 3140 Westerville Rd.

(habitatcolumbus.org/restore), and 305 Curtis St., Delaware (habitat

delawareco.org/restore), accept lumber, fixtures, fasteners, cabinets, countertops, doors, windows and many other items. They are resold to support Habitat.