Landfilling
Fifty-seven percent of the solid waste produced in CuyahogaCounty is disposed in 28 of Ohio's 68 sanitary landfills. These newer landfills are much better for the environment than the open dumps of the past. They are now regulated by the Ohio EPA and designed by engineers to long term environmental problems such as surface and groundwater contamination.

While landfill capacity is adequate to meet our needs, most of this capacity is located outside our county. In recent years, a number of landfills in CuyahogaCounty have closed and only two public facilities remain. The closure of our in-county landfills requires us to export 95% of the waste we produce, compared to just 20% in 1995. This has increased our reliance on waste transfer stations to consolidate trash prior to shipment to disposal facilities. Our trash currently passes through ten transfer stations in the county. A consequence of exporting waste is the high cost of transferring waste from collection vehicles to long haul trailers and trucking trash to distant landfills.

Recycling & Waste Reduction
Recycling and other forms of waste reduction figure prominently into our waste management system here in CuyahogaCounty. In fact, we are among Ohio's leaders in reducing waste, diverting 43% or 1,525,000 tons a year from landfill disposal. A key factor in this success is the access of county residents and business to nearly 700 recycling facilities and programs provided by local government and private recycling companies.

Over the past ten years, communities have responded to their residents' desire to recycle by implementing curbside and drop-off recycling programs for newspaper, glass, metals, and plastics. Roughly 84% of the households in our county are serviced by community- sponsored programs. Meanwhile, commercial businesses, institutions, and manufacturers have access to numerous recycling facilities to recycle their office paper, cardboard, scrap metals, packaging materials, and plastics.

Composting
Composting is an inexpensive way many communities and businesses use to manage organic materials like leaves, wood waste and grass clippings. There are 38 composting sites in our county which turn 116,000 tons of organics into valuable soil amendments and mulch each year.