Bartholomew County Closing Commercial and Office Recycling Program as Rumpke Brings New Facility Online

Bartholomew County will be closing down its commercial cardboard and office paper recycling program as Rumpke brings a new facility online at the county landfill.

Heather Siesel, director of the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District says that the district has determined that it is no longer fiscally responsible to operate the program. The recycling program has about 230 business customers and began in 1994.

The program will end on Sept. 8th. The district will be partnering with Rumpke Waste & Recycling which will be operating a new commercial recycling facility at the landfill, on County Road 450S. That facility will accept separated cardboard as well as other mixed materials such as paper, plastic, glass and metal. The new facility is expected to begin construction later this month and open this fall.

According to the company, commercial cardboard will be transported to Rumpke’s recycling facility in Medora, before being baled and sent to Indiana manufacturers for reuse. Mixed recyclables will be sent to Rumpke’s recycling facility in Cincinnati.

When the new facility opens, commercial deliveries to the Columbus and Bartholomew County Recycling Center on Mapleton Street in Columbus, will end.

Siesel said that the changes will not affect residential recycling in the county.