Rumpke Waste and Recycling is investing $50 million to bring a new facility to Columbus. The new campus, titled the Rumpke Recycling Resource Center, will be one of the top recycling plants in the county according to the press release.
The new state-of-the-art facility will take two years to complete, with an opening date in 2024 and will process approximately 50 tons per hour compared to the current 30 tons.
The new 200,000 sq.ft. recycling center will create 60 jobs and vastly expand the company’s capacity to process recyclable waste from cities and towns throughout the state. Andrew Rumpke, area president, stressed that all 500 people who currently work for Rumpke in Columbus will keep their jobs.
“When we launch in the first quarter of 2024, this is going to be the most technologically advanced system in the country,” said Rumpke.
New equipment, such as ballistic separators and optical scanners, will be used to reduce the time workers will directly handle waste, freeing them up for important tasks like quality control.
“All that technology makes the workflow safer and makes the run time better, and it allows for us to process more material,” Rumpke said.
Rumpke is donating $100,000 to Ohio State for scholarships and will work with the university to educate students on waste recycling technology. The end goal is to entice students into waste-based careers and to aid Ohio State’s Sustainability Institute in finding new methods to recycle trash.