Berea Increased Its Recycling In 2016

BEREA, OH — The city of Berea slightly increased its recycling in 2016, according to a new report from the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District. The city's recycling rate went up to 45.44 percent last year, up from 45.18 percent in 2015.

The recycling rate is the percentage of residential waste diverted from landfills through community reuse, recycling and composting programs. The recycling rate is calculated by dividing the tons recycled by totals tons of waste generated.

The Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District has a goal of 25 percent recycling rate for each community under its purview. Berea's 45.44 percent easily exceeds that goal.

In Berea, there were 4,817.30 tons of landfill waste (waste that could not be recycled) generated in 2016. The city also had 1,769.32 tons of recycled waste (think cans, boxes, etc.) and 2,242.81 tons of recycled organics.

With a 2016 recycling rate of 76.59 percent, Cleveland Heights leads all of Cuyahoga County in recycling and reuse of waste. With Cleveland Heights leading the way, Cuyahoga County recycled 265,210 tons of residential waste last year, according to the report. That's 36.13 percent of all residential waste in the county, a 0.71 percent increase from 2015.

Over a 15 year period, a lot of progress has been made with recycling and making Cuyahoga County greener. In 2001, the recycling rate was less than half of 2016's 36.13 percent.

“The numbers are encouraging. The numbers prove that Cuyahoga County is moving in the right direction for recycling, composting and waste reduction,” says Jessica Fenos, planner for the Solid Waste District, in a statement.

Of the 59 communities in Cuyahoga County, 44 improved their recycling rate from 2015. Plus, 46 communities beat Ohio's recycling goal of 25 percent, with 15 communities achieving a recycling rate of 50 percent or more, including organics.

One of the notable regressions in the county was Cleveland, which saw its already paltry recycling rate fall even lower in 2016. The city's recycling rate fell to 13.63 percent from 15 percent in 2015. The county's largest city also generates 180,470.86 tons of landfill waste each year.

The 2016 report is available for viewing here.

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