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Study: Recycling Is Billion-Dollar Business In Central Ohio

Small changes, such as regularly recycling, can add up to leading a more sustainable life.
Sam Hendren
/
WOSU
Small changes, such as regularly recycling, can add up to leading a more sustainable life.

A study of Central Ohio’s recycling industry, commissioned by a local waste management company, shows it's created thousands of jobs and generated more than a billion dollars in annual revenue. 

The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio commissioned thisfirst-ever study on the local recycling industry, finding at least 372 recycling businesses employ more than 5,000 workers.

That amounts to a yearly payroll of $235 million and almost $1.3 billion in annual revenue. 

When looking at other businesses supported by the recycling industry, the study shows the workforce rises to 10,000 and payroll expands to $2.5 billion.

The study suggests that if Franklin County residents and businesses diverted 35 percent more of the material that is currently going to the landfill, it would create 400 more jobs.

Debbie Holmes has worked at WOSU News since 2009. She has hosted All Things Considered, since May 2021. Prior to that she was the host of Morning Edition and a reporter.