Mayor's Corner: Recycling In Lakewood Continues To Grow in Upgraded Facility

Lakewood has a long history of embracing green practices, and our efforts to promote recycling by residents and businesses are an important part of that community value. Our city was one of Ohio’s early leaders in implementing a recycling program beginning in 1980s. With the opening of our upgraded and expanded refuse and recycling center at 12920 Berea Road early this year, Lakewood has seen a marked increase in the amount of material Lakewood is recycling.

From February 2024 to present, the volume of use at the upgraded Refuse and Recycling Center has grown immensely, with an increase of nearly 50% in the amount of material being dropped off for recycling. In terms of paper and carboard alone, Lakewood has recycled roughly 11.5 tons this year, a dramatic increase that also helps Lakewood’s bottom line, as we can sell that material to a third party rather than paying for it to go into a landfill.

The addition of new equipment, including a high efficiency paper shredder and a new cardboard baler, has made a clear difference in service and efficiency.  People are clearly taking advantage of these resources. I’ve personally heard from a number of people who have used the shredder to dispose of larger amounts of documents they no longer need to keep and want to dispose of safely.

I want to commend Glen Bleich, our Manager for Lakewood’s Division Manager Refuse & Recycling, and his entire team for doing a fantastic job elevating their work in the new facility. They continue to divert well over 50% of our solid waste from landfills through recycling and composting, and we expect that when the final numbers for 2024 come in, they will have again exceeded that mark. This type of efficiency not only helps to reduce our carbon footprint, it also cuts down on the tax burden for our residents.

Speaking of saving dollars, I also remain impressed by the resourcefulness of our Public Works team in identifying, pursuing, and securing outside dollars to support Lakewood’s work in recycling. Recent examples include:

  • $26,897 from the 2023 Ohio EPA Recycle Ohio Grant Program that was used to help purchase the new shredder and new baler.
  • $6,000.00 from the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District’s Community Recycling Awareness Grant Program to produce and distribute 25,000 recycling cart stickers featuring current recycling requirements and help clarify what is and is not recyclable.
  • $200,000.00 from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Recycle Ohio Grant Program to help purchase over 4,600 blue residential recycling “toters”. Some of the current toters are fourteen years old and have been in use since the inception of the City's recycling initiatives in 2009, with many being damaged over time.

I encourage our Lakewood residents and businesses to take advantage of everything that the new and improved Refuse and Recycling Center has to offer. You can bring recycling, yard waste, bulky items, and even hazardous items (things like old paint, car batteries, etc.) for disposal. Please make sure you bring proof of residency with you when you visit, as we need to make sure that this new resource benefits Lakewoodites and others don’t take advantage of our tax dollars at work.

Please visit the Refuse Division page on our website for more information and details on what the facility has to offer: https://www.lakewoodoh.gov/refuse-recycling/.

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Volume 20, Issue 20, Posted 12:21 PM, 10.15.2024