Mike Wolanin | The Republic Derrick Melton puts cans of paint in a plastic lined box during Cummins’ annual Community-wide Recycling Day at Cummins Engine Plant 1 in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023.
Despite rain and chilly temperatures, a steady stream of people still made their way to the Cummins Inc. parking lot at Engine Plant 1 for the community-wide Recycling Day.
Unlike last year when skies were clear and mild temperatures prevailed, there weren’t long lines of vehicles stretching out to Central Avenue. Attendance in 2022 was also exceptionally large because the pandemic prompted the cancellation of the event for two years, which resulted in a buildup of hard-to-dispose waste items.
However, there was a steady stream of patrons coming off Central Avenue into the engine plant with items to recycle. They were greeted by up to 150 volunteers, with many protected by company-issued rain gear, making sure every driver got to the right place for proper disposal.
“I saw this was coming up in the paper and felt it’s the best way to get rid of this stuff,” said retiree Dexter McIntyre, who was disposing of items that included 8-foot long florescent lights.
What really helps bring in the crowds are the financial incentive, Cummins Environmental Manager Nick Hosteng said. At least one hired vendor was accepting televisions and computer monitors. In contrast, the Bartholomew County Landfill charges $20 to dispose of each of those electronic items.
In manufacturing, a waste stream is a waste of money, Hosteng said. He explained that Cummins has a “process in” and a “process out” for materials brought into the plant.
“Reduction of waste is our top priority, but if we can recycle and not go to the landfill, there’s an economic benefit throughout the whole process for Cummins,” Hosteng said.
Specialists like Hosteng and event consultant Breana Adams know that recycling serves multiple purposes.
For example, it alleviates the pressure on the country’s increasingly overflowing landfills, reduces emissions, and lessens the need for raw materials. It also saves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from additional resource extraction and processing.
However, the market price for recycled materials is not high enough in many cases to cover the costs of collection, waste sorting and final processing. Few people understand that as well as Dan Sutton of the Columbus/Bartholomew Recycling Center. Part of his job is to sell off recyclables to brokers.
“People want to be able to recycle, but the price is down,” Sutton said.
As he was dropping off his items Thursday, Cummins employee Rick Young said he believes everyone should be recycling.
“How effective is recycling? I don’t really know,” Young said. “But it’s no big inconvenience. In fact, it’s very easy to do.”
The #1 items accepted during the event were hazardous fluids like oils, paint and antifreeze, Adams said. But another item dropped off in previous years that weren’t accepted Thursday were automotive tires, she said.
“There wasn’t as big of a need in the community to get rid of tires as there was last year,” Adams said.
The space previously set aside for tires was used for storing “U waste,” which trade magazines say refers to discarded commercial chemical products, manufacturing chemical intermediates and off-specification commercial chemical products that contain certain ingredients.
Cummins organized the event with the same vendors the company had in 2022. Adams identified them as Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management, San Souci and NuGenesis, Inc. of Mooresville.
As the lines began to get longer during the lunch hour, Hosteng watched the steady stream of vehicles being guided into the proper lanes.
“Year after year, we get a lot of calls about when we are doing Recycling Day,” Hosteng said. “While it’s been rainy and cold, the community still comes. And we at Cummins are excited to do this – rain or shine.”
