A look at what you can recycle and where in Coshocton County

• Tammi Rogers is the program manager and education specialist for the Coshocton County Recycling and Litter Prevention Program
• The program has 15 drop-off sites for materials across Coshocton County
• New bins will be at the sites by end of summer to be picked up by a new packer truck
• Recycling is up by 3,000 pounds a month over last year due to greater program marketing

COSHOCTON – Changes in recycling trailers and trucks will make the Coshocton County Recycling and Litter Prevention Program more efficient by the end of the summer.

Tammi Rogers, program manager and education specialist, said they are implementing new recycling bins and a packer truck similar to a garbage truck through grant funding from the Coshocton-Franklin-Licking-Perry Solid Waste District. 

This will allow driver Tim Beck to collect from more sites in a given day and take it to Kimble Recycling and Disposal in Dover. Now, Beck has to hook up a trailer, drive it to the center, unload the trailer by hand and then take the trailer back, meaning he can only hit two to four locations in a day. The new system will allow him to do six to seven sites a day. 

All items can go into the bin, where now people have to put items into different compartments of the trailers. The exception will be clean cardboard, which will have a separate container as that can draw more money if not contaminated, Rogers said. 

Streamlining litter collection will be a benefit as recycling is up in Coshocton County. Rogers said for 2018 recycling is up by about 3,000 pounds a month over this time last year.

“I hope it’s from people wanting to recycle more and me trying to get to the radio, to the newspapers and getting the word out,” Rogers said. “There’s at least three to four days in a business week where I get a phone call or an email that a (trailer) is full.”

Rogers has been with the program about nine months and was previously the agriculture and natural resources program assistant at the Ohio State University Extension Office of Coshocton County. She said she knew a bit about recycling in that post, but wanted to learn more and switch gears. 

“It’s still environmental in nature, but I wanted to learn a different aspect of it and see where I could take this position,” she said. “My position entails education, which is another reason this job appealed to me. I did a lot of that with my last job.”

The basic mission of the office is to comply with recycling and litter prevention guidelines set forth by the solid waste district. This includes making sure at least 90 percent of the population has access to recycling in some way. For Coshocton, that’s 12 drop off locations out in the county and other sites at the Coshocton County Engineer’s Office, Coshocton County Career Center and River View High School. 

Beck and Rogers are full-time employees with part-time employee Mike Carroll doing litter and tire cleanup of illegal dump sites. Salaries and operations are funded through annual education and outreach and recycling grants through the solid waste district, which this year is also allowing for truck and container upgrades. Funding of the grants come from landfill fees. Rogers said Coshocton County Commissioners provide her with an office, phone and internet, but does not put any county funding directly into the program. 

Rogers’ first goal in her job was to educate the public on where the drop-off sites were in the county. She now wants to do more in letting people know what the program accepts, which she said is a frequently asked question. People also don’t know what to do with various items if they are moving or cleaning out the home of a deceased loved one. For example, what to do with unwanted books or used paint.

“There’s not a dumb question,” she said. “Some of it I know and some of it I have to research. It’s pointing people in the right direction and connecting them with the right resources.”

Some say it takes more time and energy to recycle something than to just simply throw it away. But, when people say that, Rogers asks where ‘away’ is. It might be easier to throw everything in a bag and let someone else worry about it, she said, but you have to think big picture.

“At some point, we’re going to run out of ‘away,’” she said of landfills. “If you can use something again, why wouldn’t you. If you can make your trash less by recycling, by composting food waste, why not?”

llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com
@llhayhurst
740-295-3417

Coshocton County Recycling Trailer Locations

Bakersville – 59469 County Road 2, next to the township garage

Canal Lewisville – Rivercrest Drive, next to the old fire station site

Conesville – 508 Franklin Ave., behind the village council hall

Fresno – near the township garage off of Township Road 1045

Nellie – Second Street, next to the community center

New Guilford – 32531 Ohio 541 in Perry Township

Plainfield – Near the picnic shelter at the intersection of Main Street and Park Avenue

Warsaw – River View Community Park, past the pool near the picnic shelters

Tiverton – Near the intersection of Ohio 206 and County Road 20 in Tiverton Township

Tuscarawas Township - Cedar Street

West Carlisle - Pike Township Hall

West Lafayette – 117 Main St.

Accepted are newspaper, cardboard, steel cans, aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Not accepted are plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam, clamshells or glass of any kind. For more information, call 740-575-4813.

Where to Take Unwanted Materials

Tires – Smaller numbers of tires will be accepted by Coshocton Tire, 110 West Pine St. and Mullett Tire Service, 23839 Airport Road, for a fee. Larger number of tires are accepted by Campbell’s Scrap Tire in Zanesville and Liberty Tire in Grove City. 

Computers and peripherals – Taken by Dell Computers through Coshocton Goodwill, 301 Main St.

Old Ink Cartridges - Coshocton High School and River View Elementary School accepts during school hours.

Fluorescent Lightbulbs – Taken at no charge by the Coshocton County Health Department, 724 S. Seventh St. The health department will also take mercury. 

Used Building Materials – Working appliances, plumbing, lighting and more will be taken by Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 1301 Walnut St. 

Rechargeable Batteries – Drop off sites are at the Walhonding Valley and Coshocton fire departments. Accepted during regular business hours for no charge. 

Batteries – Disposable batteries and cell phone batteries can be dropped off in designated boxes at the Coshocton and West Lafayette libraries and the post offices in Coshocton, West Lafayette and Warsaw.

Motor Oil – Coshocton County Engineer’s Office, Advance Auto, Auto Zone and Prince’s Wrecker Service will take free of charge if not contaminated with other liquids.

Antifreeze – Mission Auto Connection, 44672 U.S. 36

Agricultural Plastic – TMK Bakersville, 28003 Township Road 101, Newcomerstown.