It's been a year since Rumpke began accepting additional flexible plastics through the Hefty ReNew program. The company is calling the program a hit in Greater Cincinnati, and adds that participation is growing.
"We've seen nearly 10,000 people request starter kits through Hefty's online portal," says Molly Yeager, corporate communications manager with Rumpke. "We've seen about 30,000 pounds. That's 15 tons of the filled orange bags processed through the plant, which is pretty amazing when you're talking about what's in those bags."
What's in the bags is a lot of lightweight recyclables like plastic films, straws, candy wrappers, foam takeout containers, and plastic bags. You'll find a list of acceptable items on Hefty's website. These are plastics Rumpke's recycling unit previously was unable to accept because of a lack of an end user to purchase the materials.
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Rumpke customers can purchase the orange Hefty ReNew bags at local retailers, fill them, and place them in curbside recycling carts for collection. The bags are pulled off the line at Rumpke's recycling center and collected in an orange chute to be bailed.
"The materials are shipped off to an end user that turns it into plastic pellets," Yeager explains. "Those plastic pellets can be made into a variety of things. One of those things [is] making plastic lumber [that] can be made into things like plastic park benches — which we actually have one in our education room down at the Cincinnati recycling facility (pictured, left)."
Yeager says Hefty is giving the region good marks when it comes to participation.
"Hefty is saying the Cincinnati market accounts for 25% of all their Hefty ReNew carton sales across all their program markets in the United States."
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Plus, Yeager adds, customers are doing a good job of cleaning the materials and only including acceptable items.
"Hefty has come out and audited the bags, and it's clean material, so people are putting the correct items in there," she says.
The program had a slow start with people stating the bags were hard to find on retailer shelves. Yeager reports that problem has eased and the ReNew bags are now much easier to find from multiple retailers like Kroger, Target, Walmart, Ace Hardware, Meijer, and more.
