Peek inside Columbus' AI-powered recycling center

• The tech is sorting our recyclables more quickly and efficiently, keeping trash out of Ohio's landfills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Catch up quick: The 226,000-square-foot center opened in 2024 near Linden, billed as the "largest and most technologically advanced recycling facility in North America."

• The $100 million investment was strategic, as Central Ohio is growing rapidly — and more people means more waste, Rumpke spokesperson Leah Dietle tells Axios.
• Axios recently toured the facility to see the process firsthand.

How it works: Truckloads of materials pour onto a warehouse floor, where excavators scoop them into a complex system of sorting machinery.

• Giant tubes full of holes, called trommels, spin and sort items by size onto conveyor belts.
• Workers pluck out non-recyclables by hand and magnets remove metals.
• Eventually, the paper, plastic and metal is compacted into giant blocks and sold to manufacturers for reuse.

Between the lines: Automation reduces the need for manual sorting, a dirty and often dangerous job.

• AI-powered optical sorters scan and identify recyclables by size, shape and color and sort them with blasts of air.
• Other units can distinguish between various types of plastic, Dietle says.

Stunning stat: The plant can process up to 500 million pounds of recyclables annually and serves over half of Ohio counties.

1 fun thing: The building also features an interactive education center created in partnership with Ohio State University and COSI, which teaches visitors through games and displays.

The other side: The recycling industry has its skeptics, especially when it comes to plastics.

• Some facilities can't process them all and they end up in landfills anyway.
• Dietle says Rumpke's center shows what's possible when the system works as intended, with a 98% recovery rate.

Where it goes: Most bales are shipped to places throughout Rumpke's service area. That includes Advanced Drainage Systems in Hilliard, which turns plastic into pipes.

The bottom line: "We wouldn't have invested in it if it wasn't helping," Dietle says.

Stop by: Book a tour online.

Zoom in: What we're recycling the most

All those empty Amazon boxes have to go somewhere, right?

The good news: Cardboard is not only one of the nation's most-recycled materials, it's also one of the most easily recycled materials.

Pro tip: Flatten your boxes to save space and make sorting easier.

Pro tips: How to recycle right

If you've ever crossed your fingers and tossed something into the recycling bin, you may be doing more harm than good.

Why it matters: "Wishcycling" contaminates streams of otherwise recyclable materials and can result in all of it going to the landfill.

• Some items can even damage equipment or injure workers.

Threat level: "Tanglers" like plastic bags, garden hoses and dog leashes are especially problematic.

• And batteries — which should never go in any bins — are among the most dangerous, as they can explode and ignite fires.
• That's why Rumpke's new facility has fire prevention tech that scans for hot spots.

By the numbers: About 10-13% of items that arrive there aren't recyclable, Dietle says.

• Nationwide contamination rate estimates are over double that amount.

Pro tip: A recycling symbol on an item doesn't automatically mean it's recyclable locally. Those actually just identify the type of plastic.

Be smart: Instead of guessing, use Central Ohio's searchable Recycle Right tool.

💭 Alissa's thought bubble: I use Hefty ReNew bags for hard-to-recycle items like plastic bags, Styrofoam and plastic utensils. They fill up fast.

• The bags go in your bin, and once at Rumpke's facility, they're pulled out and sent to a specialized location.
• I can confirm that happens — I saw it firsthand!