Rumpke Waste & Recycling has opened North America’s largest and most technologically advanced recycling technology in Columbus, Ohio.
“The future of recycling is now. Our Rumpke Recycling & Resource Center ensures enough recycling capacity to serve the long-term needs as the region’s commercial development continues and the population tops an estimated three million,” said Andrew Rumpke, president at Rumpke.
“Rumpke is the market leader, providing an essential component of our region’s and country’s circular economy. Given our mission to deliver exceptional waste and recycling solutions to our customers and communities through a commitment to safety, service the environment and the growth of our people, we must always strategically plan well into the future to meet our customer’s needs by investing, innovating and providing the best options for society’s waste,” added Rumpke.
Material is dumped from the collection trucks to the tipping floor. The new Rumpke facility processes materials from 50 different Ohio counties and has the capability to process 250,000 tons annually. A separate tipping floor exists for commercial loads.
The facility, which processes material from 50 Ohio counties, fuels the local circular economy. More than 90 percent of the material processed at the Rumpke Recycling & Resource Center goes to end-users in Ohio.
This new state-of-the-art facility is a $100 million private investment.
- The new 226,000 sq.ft. facility is the largest, most technologically advanced of its kind in North America.
- It increases processing capability from 160,000 tons of material a year to 250,000 tons.
- It increases material processing speed to a minimum of 60 tons per hour versus 30 tons per hour.
- It increases the material recovery rate to 98 percent.
- The facility is built with evolution in mind. Cranes inside the facility allow for equipment upgrades as future technology comes online and the composition of recycling material changes.
The Rumpke Recycling & Resource Center contains the newest technology making recycling, easier, more accessible and cost effective. “The Rumpke Recycling & Resource Center features the best recycling technology in the world, providing us with the potential to sort more materials, more efficiently,” said Rumpke.
This material recovery facility includes 19 optic sorters, artificial intelligence, ballistic separators and trommel equipment. The recycling center has three tipping floors totaling 48,000 square feet. The main 32,000 square foot tipping area is for residential material, the second 11,000 square foot tipping floor is for commercial material and a third 5,000 square foot tipping floor is for material sampling and auditing, which quickly provides municipal and commercial customers with a thorough evaluation of their recycling efforts, added Rumpke.
Rumpke also created an education center designed in collaboration with COSI (the Center of Science & Industry) to help the public learn about recycling. Groups of people ages 10 and up can visit Rumpke.com to schedule tours starting in October. The hands-on exhibit allows visitors to shop at a sustainable market, scan products to determine recyclability, enjoy interactive video games, play with an interactive model of the recycling facility and see the products that recycling creates.