The list of what I take at drop-offs is shown further below…Everything is free.

MY UPCOMING EVENTS:

—NEW ‘weekly’ drop-off opportunities

Drop off at the Westerville farmers market, 240 S. State Street, Westerville 43081, 9am to 12pm on these Saturdays; August 1, 8, 15, 22, September 5, 12, 26, October 10th. | It’s close to; Dublin, Gahanna, Linworth, Minerva Park, New Albany, Northland, Powell, Sunbury, Westerville, Worthington. | They accept *almost* the exact same things that I do. I will be there on select dates. Please let your people who live near there know!

Tue SEPTEMBER 1 Hilliard farmers market. 4-7pm. 5445 Scioto Darby Road, in the parking lot of United Methodist Church. I will be at this market 5 weeks in-a-row closing out the year on September 22. (I do Not accept batteries at this event. The next battery event is 10/24/2026) 

Sun SEPTEMBER 6 Grandview 1600 W. First Ave…behind the high school, in the large parking lot. 9am to Noon. YES this is on Sunday. (I am not taking batteries at this event. The next date I will be accepting batteries will be on 10/24)

Sat OCTOBER 24 will be my 16th bimonthly battery event. *I am now accepting All batteries, including Vehicles* as long as they are not leaking Lead-Acid ! Westland Area Library 10am-Noon 4740 W Broad St 43228 i DO take batteries at this event, but due to space limitations I will not have my full educational booth. *You can still drop-off all items at this event. The items list is further below. (The battery event after this one will be in 2027)

PAST EVENTS (in 2026)
Westerville 7/11, 8/1
Bexley FM 5/14, 5/21, 5/28, 6/4
Upper Arlington FM 5/13, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3
Hilliard FM 5/19, 5/26, 6/2, 8/25
Grandview FM [outdoor] 5/3, 5/10, 5/31, 7/5, 8/9
Clintonville farmers market 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23, 5/30, 6/6
UA Sustainability Fair 4/11
Westland Library battery 2/14, 4/4, 6/20
Worthington [indoor] market 1/31 Grandview [indoor] market 1/11, 2/22, 3/8, 4/12, 4/26

PAST EVENTS (in 2025) Total: 51

Grandview [indoor]market 11/9, 12/21/2025
Delaware repair cafe 11/8
Farm Science Review 9/16-18
ArborFest 8/23
Upper Arlington5/14,6/11,7/9, 8/6, 9/3, 10/22
Bexley farmers market 5/15, 6/12, 7/10, 8/7
Pearl market 5/15, 6/5, 7/3, 8/7, 9/4, 10/16
Hilliard 6/3, 7/1, 8/5, 9/2
Grandview(outside)6/1, 7/6, 8/10, 9/7, 10/12
Clintonville 4/26, 5/17, 6/14, 7/12, 8/9, 9/7, 11/1, 11/22.
Westland Library 2/22, 4/19, 6/7, 8/2, 10/18, 12/27
Westerville Repair cafe 3/29
Grandview (indoor) market 3/16 & 4/13
Dublin Community Church 2/15
Shops at Worthington Place 1/25/2025

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I created the *only* Recycling Education Outreach Booth (teaching correct local practices) at Events, Festivals & Farmers markets with hands-on examples.

76% of materials in the Franklin County landfill could’ve been reused, recycled or composted. (That’s over 3/4)

YES, YOU CAN RECYCLE THESE ITEMS! HERE’S HOW

Drop-off These Things To ME only, at one of the events listed above…Doing So Will Keep Them Out of a Landfill. Rumpke cannot process these Difficult-to-recycle-items at their facility. (And regardless which Hauler picks up the garbage at your curb, all of the recyclables go to Rumpke.)

Used aluminum foil. You do not need to clean it. Roll it into a ball and bring it to me.

CORK I take all 3 types. Synthetic, ‘cork with plastic/wood/metal attached’ and natural cork. Some of these will be reused.

ICYMI most GIFT CARDS (McD’s, KFC, BK etc are now made out of paper, which is good for the environment, however I cannot take those. If you can tear or pull the card apart it is paper not plastic. Ones that are still plastic, like Wendy’s i can accept. Also Make Sure they Are Empty/have no value. ANY Type of Plastic Card Regardless of Their Size, including Credit/Dept store/Shoppers cards, can be cut in pieces or shredded. ***Pro tip: PAPER cards are too small to be recycled curbside, instead put three or four cards in a junk mail envelope, seal it and then put it in the recyclables. Otherwise it needs to be put in your trash can.

LUNDBERG FAMILY FARMS empty & clean bags of Rice products, including chips.

POUCHES. Arm & Hammer baking soda and Oxiclean laundry detergent power paks. Tide and Downy pouches that hold laundry PODS. Capri Sun. Entenmann’s Little Bites. All of these are brand specific. (the only exception is Kroger pouches.) See KROGER further below.

DRINK POUCHES Like Capri Sun, but any and ALL Brands. Straws are okay! Both plastic & aluminum pouches are accepted. Please put these in a sealed plastic bag.

CORK I take all 3 types. Synthetic, ‘cork with plastic/wood/metal attached’ and natural cork. Some of these will be reused.

***CANDY WRAPPERS (I am no longer accepting them because Rubicon, a software company for waste haulers in Lexington, ceased operations.) BUT you can put them in the Orange Bag. Don’t know what the orange bag is? Email me at the address at the bottom of this page. Any kind of candy wrapper you can think of; chocolate bars, starburst, Reece’s, skittles etc. With one exception, do not include Foil of any kind in the Orange bag!

BRITA Water Filtering. Includes; Pitchers, Filters, Dispensers, Bottles & Faucet Systems. *This collection is Brand Specific, So I Can ONLY Accept Products From Brita.

INK CARTRIDGES The small size of personal computer printers. These need to be put in a plastic sealed bag like a Ziploc bag, as they tend to leak in paper.

HYGIENE products; (Any Brand) of USED Toothbrushes, Plastic Razors, *Toothpaste Tubes & Caps, Razor blades, Floss containers. THE ONLY DEODORANT TUBES I ACCEPT ARE Tom’s of Maine. IF YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT BRAND PLEASE RECYCLE DEODORANT TUBES IN YOUR ORANGE BAG. If you don’t have an orange bag I will give you your first one. Again, All Brands of Those other items (toothbrushes etc.) Can Be Dropped-off…Also I am Collecting Used Items, Not New Ones. *(preferably empty)

NETTING around some oranges & other foods. Usually red in color. Large plastic labels are okay.

BREAD BAG TAGS the small square-ish plastic clip to prevent moisture in bread, English muffins etc.

PLASTIC PULL TABS, like the small white kind inside a carton of almond milk

DESICCANT/SILICA GEL anti-moisture packs, those little white ‘envelopes/pouches’ some of them are hard cylindrical plastic. All kinds are accepted.

HAIR & SKIN Care. Shampoo/conditioner/lotion, Pumps only. (Put bottles in the recycling bin) Brands: Aussie, Burt’s bees, Cortizone10, Garnier, Gold bond, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Murad, Pantene, Selsun Blue. ***All these need to be clean and bone dry.

DUNKIN’ Coffee. Flexible ground & whole bean bags. Brand specific

ENTENMANN’S Little Bites pouches

TRIGGER SPRAYERS (by themselves) Like what is on a bottle of Windex. These are not Recyclable anywhere else, because there is a metal spring inside the plastic. When you have two different materials, metal & plastic, they are contaminants and Hard-to-Recycle. (Put the bottles into your recycling bin, Bring the trigger sprayers to me.)

HASBRO – ALL of their Toys; Board games, Plush, Action figures, Nerf, Dolls, GI Joe, Beyblade, Tonka, Trivial Pursuit, Milton Bradley. They have over 135 Toys!…Full list HERE

PET FOOD packaging. Flexible plastic pet food packages from these 6 brands only: Royal Canin, Eukanuba, “I and Love and You”, Wellness, Open Farm, Halo. (See Kroger below, for 3 more pet brands I can take.) ***Pro tip: Pet Supplies Plus is accepting all dog and cat Food bags for no charge even if they weren’t purchased there. Use this option if it’s more convenient for you than waiting for me to have a drop off.

GLADE, FEBREZE, AIR WICK, RENUZIT, Air Care. ALL brands of air & home cartridges, plugs, spray bottles.

KROGER Flexible Packaging, including pouches. All Ten (10) of Their Brands; Simple Truth Organic, Private Selection, Pet Pride, Luvsome, Abound, Home Chef, Comforts (Diapers), HemisFares, Free From & the Kroger brand, including Frozen items from any of them. Flexible packaging basically means Bags. They must be clean and bone dry. (You canNOT take these to stores!)

BIMBO Packaging. Bags of Ball Park buns, Thomas’ English muffins, Brownberry-Beefsteak-Rustik Oven bread, Sara Lee, Lenders Bagels etc.*** It will say Bimbo bakeries near the copyright symbol on the ‘tray/box’

VTECH, LEAP FROG, Spin Masters & Hasbro electronic Learning devices by these 4 brands only. And only learning devices, not other types of electronics please.

Used/Broken HAIR DRYERS, CURLING IRONS, STRAIGHTENING IRONS Any & All Brands. This collection is made possible by EvaNYC (You can also take these to the SWACO Convenience Center at 2566 Jackson Pike. They accept anything with a cord, even if you don’t have the cord.)

BENEBONE & LUMABONE Nylon Dog Chew Toys ***Please put them in a bag

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE ‘HEFTY RENEW ORANGE BAG PROGRAM’ IS, EMAIL ME AT THE ADDRESS BELOW AND I WILL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU.

SWIFFER Used Refills from Sweeper, Duster and Wet Jet pads. brand specific. (I would prefer you put both the wet and dry pads into your Hefty ReNew Orange bag program) Please allow the Wet pad to air dry. I have allergies and these dusters add to the problem.

I no longer take these, but you can put them in the orange bag SOLO CUPS (of Any Brand) aka colored Party Cups, They May Have a #6 on the Bottom of the Cup. ***These are ONLY Accepted in Your Curbside Recycling IF you use the Hefty ReNew ORANGE bag.

OLD SCHOOL 6-Pack Rings, Like What Beer & Cola Cans Were On. Also 8 or 12 Pack Rings, Like Gatorade or Nutritional Shakes are on. (These can also be put into the Hefty ReNew ORANGE bag) i’d prefer that you put them in your orange bag, if you don’t already have one I’ll give you your first orange bag.

‘NEW School’ 6-Pack Rings. They Are Called “Pak-Tech Handles” That Usually Hold Craft Beer Cans and Are Made of a Colorful Plastic That is Thicker & RIGID. The Rings Also Come in 4-Packs…(you canNOT put these in the hefty renew orange bag).

I Moved To Columbus For 3 Reasons: Cbus Moved From Bi-weekly To Weekly Curbside Recycling Pickup, Rumpke Opened a State of the Art Facility in Franklin county & Because Cbus is a Fast Growing City + I have family here.

REDUCE what you can, REUSE what you cannot Reduce, RECYCLE what you can’t Reuse.

ONE TELLS 10 – TEN TELL 100. Please Share on your Social media

If You Have a Recycling Question EMAIL Me: (i respond quickly so look in your Junk mail if it’s more than one day) MATTHEWC@ColumbusRecycles.com Better Yet, Stop By in Person at an Event I’m at. It’s One Thing To Tell You Something, But Much Better To Show You With Examples in My Sustainability Booth.

We Don’t Inherit Earth from Our Ancestors, We Borrow It From Our Children.

MatthewC

• Saucy Brew Works on Third Ave, Savor Growl on Indianola Ave, Seventh Son Brewing on 4th St, Perfect Pour in Dublin, The Draft Room in Westerville

Sun 9am to NOON Grandview 1600 W. First Ave…behind the high school, in the large OUTDOOR parking lot. YES this is on Sunday. (I do Not accept batteries at this event. The next battery event is )

Sat I will be at the Westerville farmers market. 240 S. State Street, Westerville 43081, 9am to 12pm. This will be the only time I will be there in September . (I am not taking batteries at this event. The next date I will be accepting batteries will be on )