Strongsville Gradually Increasing Recycling Rates

STRONGSVILLE, OH — The city of Strongsville is gradually improving its recycling rate, according to a new report from the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District. The city increased its recycling rate from 30.45 percent in 2015 to 31.7 percent in 2016.

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.

In Strongsville, there were 21,159.38 tons of landfill waste (aka waste that could not be recycled) generated in 2016. The city also had 2,816.43 tons of recycled waste (think cans, boxes, etc.) and 7,005.48 tons of recycled organics.

Compare those numbers to 2015, when the city had 22,719.88 tons of landfill waste, 2,902.81 tons of recycled waste, and 7,045.55 tons of recycled organics.

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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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