Rumpke Recycling

There have been six fires this year at Rumpke's recycling plant or on recycling trucks that have been traced to lithium ion batteries.

Several communities and counties are ready to help find a home for Christmas trees that have outlived their usefulness.

Three recycling sites open Saturday. They'll accept trees and other holiday greenery.

More Tri-Staters are recycling but some are still confused as to what Rumpke, the area's largest recycler, will accept.

In the first quarter of this year Rumpke reports a 7 percent increase in recycling when compared to the same period last year. Its Cincinnati recycling center processed about 40,000 tons, up from 37,000 tons in the first quarter of 2014.

The Cincinnati facility is getting a workout. Rumpke processed more than 318 million pounds of material in 2014.

As you're gathering up all the wrapping paper and bows from Christmas, Hanukah, and any other celebration this holiday season, here's a check list to help answer the question: Can I recycle this?

Note: Service will not occur on Christmas or New Year's Day. Customers with a Thursday trash day will be collected on Friday. Friday customers will be collected on Saturday.

Items that cannot be recycled are causing some issues for the Rumpke recycling center in St. Bernard.  Company workers are being forced to trash some things that are not recyclable and should have never been sent to the facility in the first place.  

“Some non-recyclables can easily be sorted out with our advanced technology,” said recycling operation manager Brad Dunn in a statement.  “However some of these non-recyclables can injure our employees, damage our sorting equipment or contaminate other recyclables.”

Items to avoid: