-MRF -- Material Recovery Facility

-10 billion plastic bags produced in the US a month -- hard to recycle because grease

     and oil easily contaminate fibers

Rumpke

-soon be able to recycle plastics 3-7

-materials separated on conveyor belts

-100,000 tons of material/year

-93% of material gets recycled

-7% of material gets rejected

-employees along the conveyor belt pull out dirty cans and jars

-sell reclaimed materials to buyers (guaranteed contracts)

-recycling is cheap, reclaimed materials cost 90% less than virgin materials

-recycling keeps the price of products down, ie aluminum cans

-packaging companies do not usually contact recycling facilities

     -larger corporations (P&G, Kroger, etc) do keep contact and ask

-40% of Cincinnati homes recycles -- based on curbside pickup numbers

     -high amount for a city this size

-60% of Hamilton county recycles -- based on curbside and corporation

-fees based on how populated the area is to cover truck and gas costs

-frequently give educational lectures at schools, etc

-work with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, Reds, Bengals, etc

-hauling division costs $8.5 million/year for 78 trucks

-costs $10.5 million/year to run the facility

-sometimes have a loss up to $10,000

-just trying to break even

-recycles for ethical reasons, not to make money

     -good service

     -keeps materials out of landfills

Charities

-plastic bottles turned into fleece jackets for inner city schools

-plastic bottles turned into reuasable bags for Keep Cincinnati Beautiful

Paper

-takes 12 minutes to go through the facility

-being made into something new day the next day

-cost $20/ton to recycle, only sell for $5/ton

-cheapest and easies to recycle

Plastics

-plastics 1 and 2 that are not bottles cannot be recycled because they are extruded

     parts and have a different melting point

-milk jugs take an unknown amount of time (very long) to decompose in a landfill

-simple to recycle and break down into flakes

-soda bottles made into carpet, nylon, fleece, etc.

Glass

-gets crushed then sent out to turn into powder

-low market cost

-biggest challenge to recycle

Steel

-simple to melt down