Although we are an ordinary dumpster rental company who will recycle, we are hopeful that the people of Earth can get a handle on the waste we produce. But we have a long way to go. It is crucial that Earthlings come up with a better solution to waste management than digging a hole in the ground and burying it.

• Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash in 2010 and only recycled and composted some 34.1 percent of it, according to the [EPA]((http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw_2010_rev_factsheet.pdf).
• 21,936,900.76 tons of trash went into Ohio’s landfills in 2012 according to this study.
• In 2014, Rumpke Waste Recycling received 63,759.80 tons from Columbus residents alone, according to the Ohio EPA.

How Can You and Your Family Get Involved?

1. Be a Real Recycler. As homeowners, we know it can be tough to recycle everything, but with a proper system in place, it can become easy. Once you put in place a system of recycling for your family, it will become simple and routine to follow that system and recycle.
2. Re-Use Plastic Reclosable Storage Bags. Don’t be a one-use family! Those plastic bags are made to last forever. Instead of using them once and considering them dirty and tossing them out, embrace the cost-saving idea that one box of reclosable bags can last months.
3. Compost. Food waste becomes great soil. If you are not using it, your neighborhood community garden may want it. You can compost with worms in the Columbus winters. Local Matters is a great resource.
4. Purchase Less Packaging. Fruits and vegetables have a natural wrapping. They do not need to be put on plastic and wrapped in cellophane.

Earth Day starts with us. All of us contribute to waste and therefore the need for sustainable waste management. For America to get where we need to go, it is going to take all of us buying into a system that works.