Recycling

Recycling Downtown
What’s next for Downtown recycling
Tips for Living Green
Tips for Working Green
Resources
Contact Us

Going green is keen.

It seems like everyone is talking about “going green.” Not a day goes by without a green news story or a new green product coming onto the market. Google the words “go green” and more than six million search results come up. Clearly, we’re fast becoming a green-conscious society.

And with good reason.

Going green and managing our resources has a positive effect on everything from our health to the environment to climate change to our finances. The practice of “reduce, reuse and recycle” not only saves energy and keeps landfills clear, it turns what would otherwise become waste into valuable resources.

Of course, going green is especially important for Downtown Columbus as we work toward become America’s 21st Century City. Mayor Coleman’s “Green Memo,” which was issued in 2005, is the City’s plan for making Columbus the best — and greenest — place to live and work.

Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District is in the midst of creating an active, uniform recycling program for those who live, work and do business Downtown.

Together, we’ve made a great start. In fact, Downtown is already the greenest place in central Ohio in terms of land use, but we still have work to do.

From pursuing responsible, sustainable growth to providing environmental stewardship to improving recycling efforts and reducing solid waste, it’s time to Get Green Columbus.

Recycling Downtown

• Wanna recycle but don’t know where to take your stuff? Downtown has more than 25 nearby residential drop locations.
  • Find a drop location near you→
  • Get a list of recyclables→
• Got some “What do I do with this” kinds of items? Downtown has pick-up service and drop-off locations for non-hazardous items, such as appliances, fluorescent bulbs and printer cartridges.
  • Get disposal information→
• Need to know where to take flammables, toxics and corrosives? Downtown is conveniently located near the city’s Permanent Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) location.
  • Print location information and hours of service→

What’s next for Downtown recycling
Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District, in partnership with SWACO, the City of Columbus, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Short North Business Association, is working on a recycling plan exclusively for Downtown and Short North property owners.

Here are some highlights of what's taking place:

• A consortium of of 35 property owners, including office buildings, restaurants, hotels and residential complexes representing a wide variety of building types and waste generators are receiving waste audits by a waste management consulting firm
• The firm gathers data and develops waste management plans and drafts easy-to-use management plan templates
• Legal services are retained to negotiate contracts that will include:
  • Recycling services at no extra cost
  • No automatic yearly renewals
  • Quiet dumpsters
  • No pulls before 5 a.m.
  • Diversion of at least 25 percent of waste generated by these properties into the recycling stream by May 2009
  • Preferred haulers list for Downtown property owners

Updates: Press conference held on June 17, 2009 revealed the list of particpating properties for the program. Each property has undergone a waste audit and will receive a management plan for waste which will include meaningful reductions in waste sent to the Franklin County Landfill. For more information, please  contact Sarah Dodson at (614) 645-5256.

To view the recycling program press release dated June 17, 2009, click here.

 Visit our blog and check back here regularly for progress updates on the Downtown recycling program.

Tips for Living Green

• Buy items with less packaging or buy in bulk.
• Try alternative transportation - bike, bus, or walk. Visit www.cota.com for bus routes and timetables.
• Invest in a reusable shopping bag and take it with you to grocery and retail stores.
• Use eco-friendly cleaning products or make your own natural cleaning products (PDF).
• Since 90 percent of energy used in laundry and dishwashing comes from heating the water, wash in cold or warm water — never hot.
• Unsubscribe to catalogs that you regularly toss in the trash without reading.
• Buy a made-from-recycled plastics toothbrush that can be sent back, postage paid, for further recycling.
• Purchase reusable gift bags instead of wrapping paper.
• Shop at local farmers' markets for the freshest produce traveling the shortest distance.

Tips for Working Green

• Print documents double-sided or, better yet, only keep electronic files.
• Ditch the lunchroom disposables in favor of reusable plates and eating utensils. Try using a glass rather than having a disposable water bottle a day.
• Buy a travel mug to fill up at the local coffee shop. Some coffee houses will give you a deal for bringing your own container.
• Skip unnecessary lights such as overhead fluroscents if you have a desk lamp and always flip off lights when leaving a room.
• Reuse boxes and packing materials for storage, signage or moving.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator. It’s not only green-friendly, it’s heart-friendly.

Resources

• Make your own eco-friendly household cleaners (PDF).
• Report illegal dumping and littering through the Nail-a-Dumper Hotline, (614) 871-5322.
• Get everyone in on recycling by hosting a “Waste Less Meal” at your next event.

Contact Us

• Capital Crossroads SID
  (614) 645-5256
  Contact Melanie Houston for more information about the Capital Crossroads SID recycling program.
• SWACO
  (614) 871-5100
  Call for recycling questions, including drop-off locations and specialized recyclables.