Game-Changing Recycling Practices According to SWACO's Joe Lombardi

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:00:14

Good afternoon, Franklin County. We're here for our holiday edition of Talk of the County. I'm Kenneth Wilson, your county administrator, and I'm here today with, Joe Lombardi, the CEO of the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, and we're gonna have a stimulating conversation about waste. I know that's hard to believe, but by the end of this episode, you're gonna have a whole new thought on solid waste that you may consider trash. But it's another man's treasure, literally. Joe, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:00:53

Well, Ken, thank you, first of all, for having me on today. I hope that we can make this enjoyable for our folks today. So I've been with the Solid Waste Authority for just over 2 years. Prior to that, I spent 32 years with the City of Columbus in various positions. I was most recently, mayor Ginther's finance director from 2016 to 2022. Prior to that, I was at public utilities for about 15 years. I was in the central purchasing office for about 10, couple years at Rec and Parks. So most of it has been in administration, procurement, and fiscal work.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:01:36

So you were, money, power, playgrounds, and now solid waste.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:01:44

Yeah. So so I guess I've done it all, I guess, when you look at it that way. I don't know about the power part, but definitely, the fiscal, the procurement, and playgrounds. Yeah. I had a lot of fun in those 32 years.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:01:57

You know, the the Columbus Department of Public Utilities is literally a a powerhouse when you think about the impact it has on residents' lives. Yeah. And the thing that's, connected is you are now, in charge of a public utility that people don't really think about unless it gets dusk and things haven't moved from off their curve.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:02:28

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:02:28

That's when it gets to be, both a public health and a public utility issue in a hurry That's cool. If it doesn't if it doesn't get off the curb. That leads me to asking you, for our listeners, who is SWACO, and what role, do you play, in the in the greater community here in Franklin County and the region?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:02:52

Yeah. So SWACO, is one of 52 solid waste districts that were created through house bill 592 back in 1988. State of Ohio passed that House Bill to create 52 distinct districts to combat, really out of out of state waste that was coming into Ohio, but more importantly, to to take away the reliance of landfills and to create programs for recycling, reducing waste coming into our landfills. So we are one of 52, solid waste districts here in Ohio. We're a little unique in in a sense that we own and operate the landfill as well as do programs. Many of your solid waste districts throughout Ohio are just the program side of it, and they report directly to the county. And the landfills are typically run by, you know, a private company. But here in Central Ohio, we are a single county.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:03:52

We we take care of all of Franklin County, all 41 communities within Franklin County.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:03:58

Just to give our listeners perspective, you know, being that we're the largest, county in the state, we're 1,400,000 people and everyone generates waste. It's just a fact of life. Tell our listeners about the sheer number of, of of tons that, this landfill processes over time? Or each or just say annually. It's a big enough number just to talk about annually what it does.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:04:36

Yeah. Annually, we bring into the landfill about 1,300,000 tons a year. It's about roughly 5 20 some 1,000 a month, if you did the math. But each, each year we bring in on average about 1,200,000 tons a year, into this landfill.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:05:01

And it all just not it doesn't magically get here. I mean, you it's a it's a complicated system that requires, individuals with expertise in logistics just to ultimately get it here to what those of us that know the landfill fondly refer to it as the hill. 1 of the this is probably one of the highest hills that exist in Franklin County. Maybe I would challenge it. Maybe no. It's top 3. If not, the highest from, looking down upon the city. You talk about the how what happens from curbside to it ultimately getting here, to the landfill, meaning it's picked up by a network of organizations that are in the waste business like Rumpke Waste Management and local municipalities that collect residential trash.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:06:02

How does it, you know, how did they get from point a to the landfill, you know, with the transfer stations roll and all of the logistics that are involved?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:06:15

Yeah. So as an example, if you took, the city of Columbus, for example, their trucks will pick up on a daily basis depending on what their route is, and then they either bring it to our transfer station. We have one located on Morris Road and one located here on the south side, at Jackson Pike. They will dump that trash into our transfer station floor. We have equipment that will then take it, put it into a big trailer, it's like a semi truck trailer, and that is hauled, here to the landfill and then dumped. Or you can bring it directly here to the landfill. For example, some of our other communities might use a private, hauler. They will pick up in their community, at the curbside.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:07:07

They'll drive it here. They'll come through our gates. They come up to, where we're working that day on the hill, and, they dump their waste. They'll roll out and they go right back and do it all over again.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:07:21

And also the landfill can't accept everything. You can't accept certain things. So part of the solid waste authority's job is to ensure that both commercial and residential, customers are aware of the proper recycling of particular goods such as lead based paint. Right. Such as pharmaceuticals, such as let's let's talk a little bit about that. Let's talk about what you just can't simply throw away. We all are familiar with bulk pickup.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:08:01

You know,

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:08:01

you got the couch. You calls you call ahead, put the couch outside, the couch disappears.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:08:07

Yeah. So a lot of the waste, that we don't wanna hear is a lot of your hazardous waste. Your batteries, especially the lithium batteries, they cause fires, both at our transfer stations and they in our landfill. We prefer you not bringing in any hazardous waste, such as medical and pharmaceuticals. We we don't wanna see any of the, we we while we do take the bulk pickup, there's reuse for that. And one of the reasons, we decided we would open a recycling center so that customers have a place to bring batteries, styrofoam, light bulbs, Christmas lights, which many of us who went to plug them in this year found out they didn't work from last year. So, we'll accept them there. We have companies who will recycle those, your computers, your TVs.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:09:04

We have a convenience center located at 2566, Jackson Pike, where you can bring all that, to us. For your furniture, depending on the on the, the use of that furniture, whether it's still useful, there are all kinds of outlets for that. You can bring it to the furniture bank. You can bring it to the Goodwill. Habitat for Humanity has a reuse store where you can bring a lot of that, furniture that you don't need anymore and bring it to them, and they'll just turn around and give it to those in need.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:09:37

And and most of us know you gotta go to the junkyard for the whole car. You just can't leave a 1986 Chevy El Camino that the engine blows up in and call somebody, and they just come and get that.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:09:49

Right. Right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:09:50

You got car, recycling and crushing centers and and such.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:09:55

Yeah. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:09:56

And you can't you don't you don't advise people, also listeners, tires. If you replace a tire, you gotta pay the fee for the proper disposal of the tire. You can't leave the tire on the curb because the local waste management company is not supposed to pick up tires. Talk a little bit about our partnership with law enforcement, prosecutor's office, etcetera, in our, waste disposal, ensuring that individuals don't, illegally dump things in various different ways.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:10:39

Yeah. Ken, you bring up a great point. Illegal dumping is just, a a problem. I'm just gonna be honest and truthful with your listeners. It's a problem. And so we have a contract, and we have a partnership with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office for the environmental crimes task force where, folks can turn folks in that they see illegally dumping, whether it's tires or trash or furniture. We'll investigate that if we are able to, locate the person who, illegally dumped, then we'll bring that case to the environmental court. We have a prosecutor on our staff, on Franklin County staff that's working for the environmental crimes task force, to prosecute those folks that are are illegally dumping.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:11:30

Tires is a big problem. We see tires in our streams, in our waterways, and we're trying to protect those as well. We we have a contract with Liberty Tire, which is just right up the road. They'll shred those up and and turn those into chips, which we actually use here at the landfill as a part of our cover. It's a great, service to them. We bring our tires to them. We that we find in the landfill, we just bring them right to them, and they'll they'll chop those up for us. And then, we get them back and use them as fill.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:12:06

It's it's not a problem so much now. But, in Ohio, a lot of leaves fall, and there's a lot of, what, yard waste. Mhmm. Talk to our listeners about the proper thing to do with yard waste and some of the partnerships you all have to make it easier to do the right thing with your leaves and your branches. And and after there's a bad storm in the event, how did you get rid of it? You go out, you know, if Joe or Jane has a chainsaw and they cut up a bunch of wood themselves, you got how, you know, how do you what do you do with that if you don't have your own fireplace to burn it up burn it?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:12:48

Yeah. So for your leaves, for your yard waste, cutting grass, your grass clippings, we ask people to please put those in whether it's a trash can that's marked yard waste or in the bags that you can get at your local store, whether it's Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace. Put those outside at your curb. Those are picked up, locally, in Columbus by Brumke, and then our other communities are picked up, by their private hauler. Those then go to Ohio mulch and and and places like that that has turned into mulch. Or, if you get on our website, we do have, information on there on how you can do backyard composting yourself. We can help you with that. We can bring people out to your location and and show you how to properly take your yard waste and turn it into composting.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:13:44

We we don't want you burning it. We don't want you to throw it into our landfill. It it's not what we wanted for it creates too much methane. So there's outlets for that for composting and for Comtill. City of Columbus has a Comtill business out on, just south of here. That's where a lot of your yard waste will go as well.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:14:09

So we don't want people to handle their own solid waste disposal That's true. In their fire pit.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:14:16

That's right. That's right. That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:14:19

That's not good for air quality, environmental sustainability. We're sitting here with we recycle. This basket has egg cartons in it. It has the Starbucks cup. It doesn't have the, you know, we are, still the Buckeyes are still, alive in the college football playoffs, but I noticed there aren't red cups. The famous, red cups and, that are Solo. Popular for, tailgating Yes, sir. Are not in here.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:14:53

No. Those can't be recycled.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:14:55

Right? Those cannot. You know, we're we're subject to, what the recycling processors, in our case here in Central Ohio, is Rumpke. When they determine what they can they have a market for a recycled material, they'll let us know, and we let our communities know that those items are now recyclable. For example, they just brought out the clamshells, which all your berries and, some of your fruits are in, at the store. But, right now, solo cups are not recyclable. And and I always said, if those are ever become recyclable, tailgate parties are where I'm gonna hit. Not for tailgate, but to get those recyclables into

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:15:40

the There's a lot of red cups, green

Joe Lombardi [: 00:15:45

They're everywhere.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:15:45

Blue cups. They're everywhere. Yeah. They're they're everywhere. So one of the greatest breakthroughs, in in in recent is to be able to recycle yoga cups. Is that correct?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:15:57

That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:15:57

That was an aspiration for a long time. So now you can recycle yoga cups.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:16:02

Yeah. So yoga cups are still pretty new to to people. We we we continue to try to educate people that you can now start putting in your yoga yogurt cups, and your cottage cheese containers. Your, sour cream, containers. All those type of containers, you can now recycle and put it in your blue bin.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:16:26

Yeah. You I mean, you have a a a great team that, educates individuals on recycle. Right? Like, there are some grocery chains that have, gone exclusively to paper or or cloth bags. But in the meantime, you and your team have been very aggressive in educating people and creating collection points for and and, creative reuses of the of the, the bags when we go to your favorite, supermarket. I know I I use them for, you know, waste baskets around the house.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:17:06

Right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:17:06

When I'm traveling, drop shoes in them. I I make sure that they they they live multiple lives, you know, for the for the good of our environment. And and you have you have folks on your team, such as your I know your your director of, of of public affairs, Hannah, Grier Brown has been always educating people on pizza boxes.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:17:29

Yes.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:17:29

And what how a pizza box need to show up at the curb if it can be effectively recycled.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:17:35

Yeah. Yeah. So Hannah does a great job as you know. I mean, Hannah is probably our biggest, spokesperson is our spokes but our biggest spokesperson outside of the office about what we can do, in recycling, along with our programs team, which I would say they are syncing to none here in in Ohio, if not in the Midwest. We have some great employees in our programs that are passionate, passionate people who really care about the environment, who really work hard each and every day to try to educate one more person. To try to change behavior, Ken, is is really tough, as you know. And they work hard each day to get one more person, just one more person, to believe in recycling and doing the right thing for the environment and making us a better place for our children that are coming in behind us. The pizza boxes, there there will be a program coming out in January, with we're gonna pilot them with pizza shops around, Columbus.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:18:46

We're putting a sticker on and putting it right on your pizza box as you're handing it to your customer. It says, please recycle me. And you'll be able to start putting those pizza boxes right in those blue bins now no matter what.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:18:57

Just remove

Joe Lombardi [: 00:18:59

Remove the surface.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:19:00

Sliver of wax paper.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:19:01

Yep.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:19:02

Ensure that there's no cheese. Yep. Try to eliminate the number of the debris from your sausages. And Your greases may be a little bit less, but I think they can still work with that.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:19:12

Yeah. And it's free. It's gonna be free. It's gonna be free to those businesses.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:19:16

Gonna be free with it. The one thing I do wanna put on the record for our listeners is during this holiday season, commit to recycling, your orders that come in various sizes of cardboard boxes. That is a recycling layup. That alone can help SWACO get towards their goal of 70 some odd percent diversion, and car cardboard and paper is why we're we're making great strides in this community. Joe, talk a little bit about where there's room for improvement there.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:19:56

Yeah. So

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:19:57

I won't have you talking about organics because that's gonna get well, I'm gonna talk about maggots today and some messy process composting. We can get into that on another episode. So let's just talk cardboard. Yeah. Let's talk about cardboard. Let's not talk about maggots and maggots and all that.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:20:14

Let me let me take a little step back and talk a little bit about, our waste characterization study that we did in 2018. Literally went through our trash here at the landfill and at the transfer stations to see what was coming in and and what, didn't need to be coming in, so to speak. What we found in that study was 75% of what comes in our landfill. That's at 1,200,000 we talked about or 75% did not need to be in that landfill. That could be reused, recycled, repurposed, and we'll talk about composting on another day.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:20:57

Nope. I got another topic, but it's cleaner. Keep going.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:21:01

But the cardboard, the cardboard has is, like you said, is the easy layup. It's the breakaway layup. We see cardboard coming in here all day long, and with folks buying more and more things online and the Amazons of the world and FedEx and UPS boxes, those can just be broken down in place right in that blue bin. Very simple. Very simple. So much of what you're gonna have this holiday season, you can break down all your all your boxes that your presents come in. We do have online, Ken, a holiday green holiday guide. If you just get on the suaco.org and just, search for a holiday guide, it'll give you all the tips you need, but cardboard is a big problem in our landfill.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:21:56

I I tell a story about having a local, state official here, early on in my career, and she had asked me, what is the one thing that drives you crazy when you come up here? And I said, the amount of cardboard that I see in this landfill is, to me, is crazy because cardboard has been recyclable way back. I mean, this goes way back.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:21

It's the easiest. It's right here. This is easy. Yeah. Right. This cardboard is the easiest something to get rid of.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:22:26

No sooner do I tell her that a truck dumps an entire truck full of nothing but cardboard boxes. That one even is set. We didn't set that. Right. We didn't have some

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:36

You got a box cutter. If you got a box cutter,

Joe Lombardi [: 00:22:38

you could just It's a dog barrier.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:40

Come in, all of your stuff come in. And, right now, everybody you see the trucks zoom in. Everybody getting all of these boxes dropped off on their, on their front porches. And when you get there, open the box, cut the box up, fold the box up

Joe Lombardi [: 00:22:54

Put it right in there.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:55

For recycling.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:22:56

Put it right in there.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:22:57

And Swaco also has neighborhood spots to where Yep. Nowhere where you live, you could put it all in your trunk, and you can drive it and recycle it there. Another recycling layup, in my opinion, during the holidays, in particular when you entertain and you have a bunch of people at your house, is these plastic, single use bottles when you're drinking when you're drinking water. Sure. We we promote, a metal bottle. SWACO provides many grant programs with colleges and places such that you fill up your bottle. It's a great deal, but we we still use single use bottles for convenience. But the key is is to recycle them and straws, try to get rid of all of the plastic stuff in general is is what we wanna deal with.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:23:45

Another area I wanna touch on is that when there's a lot of science in landfill. Mhmm. And when you when you create a sale, which is up as a large hole that's lined with with layers and and such and that and you put, solid waste within those spots, it creates methane gas. Methane gas does what methane gas could do if not handle with the proper science. Talk about not how SWACO responsibly manages that through science, but how SWACO has partnered with the private sector to make it an economic development initiative for this authority?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:24:31

Yeah. Great question and a great, point to make here, Ken, is the fact that, obviously, all landfills produce methane. We have a private, public partnership with a company that has a location right on our property, called Arkea Energy. And all of the all of the methane that is produced in our landfill is under vacuum. Therefore, that methane is then pushed into their building, which is cleaned up, turned back into natural gas, and put back into the gas line, the Columbia Gas, Gas Line for use for it's natural gas as a as a clean energy. And we receive, revenue to about 4 to $6,000,000 a year from the sale of that gas going back. And I I don't know the exact number of homes that we can heat with that gas, but it is a great, great economic development for us. And we begin doing that the day we build a cell.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:25:39

So we build a cell, and we put the gas pumps right in that cell before we even begin to start putting trash so we can capture that methane day 1 when they start putting trash in it. So they've been a great partner. They've always, do the right thing for us. We have great partners with, them and Marathon Gas as well.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:26:03

What is the what's what's the name of the latest sale under development? They seem to some of them have been named after Hummers and that's my first I normally don't do commercial things, but it's kinda funny that I wanted wanted we used to talk about sales. I'm like, it's named

Joe Lombardi [: 00:26:21

after Hummer. H h a h yeah. H 6. You know, I asked that question before to staff and they said that's just the way they started. So they just began making them everyone get got a number. So h one was the first one, and I think we're up to h 8 now. So,

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:26:41

while we can't, like, name the sale after, like, their names tropical storm Well, we we could do that. Sale buckeye.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:26:49

We could do that.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:26:51

Sail Ben Franklin or something. What the Franklin County did working? Why we can't just name the sale or something? You know? Well Give us sale a little bit merch, r two d two sale or something.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:27:01

Well, yeah. It it is a good question, and it's one that I did ask, and and they just say that is the, national, standard for landfills. Name them h or whatever letter they give it to them. I'll I'll have to I'll have to research that a little bit more.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:27:17

We about to go even deeper in the geekness right now with my next question. We about to go deeper in the geekness if that is at all possible. We about to address the topic of landfill life. Okay. Where you have to go through this whole complicated process of having a flower with some engineer looking at how much and determining Yeah. How long that a sale and other sales that can be built, how long can you run out of space to dispose of people's stuff?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:27:54

So that I'm glad you asked me that. I've been asked that a lot recently. I think a lot of times people are asking me that question because we hear about the growth of central Ohio, and we hear about how much the population is going to grow. And I believe, like you said, like a public utility, people are worried. They're they're worried about where is that trash going to go. Mhmm. Mhmm. So we did what we call permit to install, which means we expanded the landfill approximately about 4 4 or 5 years ago.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:28:31

I'm glad you spelled that out and didn't say PTI. PTI is Permit

Joe Lombardi [: 00:28:36

permit to install, which basically means that you're expanding your people like us.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:28:40

Yeah. We got acronym. They we had to get corrected all the time.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:28:44

Government loves We

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:28:45

spell out Government love acronyms.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:28:47

And and so at that point, 5, 6 years ago, with the addition of the expansion, we were able to secure the landfill through 2062. Now I'm going to make sure that I cover our bases here and say that was based on 2,017, 18 population. And as we continue to grow, if people don't take it serious to reduce the amount of waste that they put into that landfill, that 2062 may become 2050. It may become 2040. And to try to cite a landfill is going to be very difficult

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:29:39

Very difficult.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:29:39

And time consuming. It will take years to try to cite a new landfill. In central Ohio, I don't think you'll ever see another landfill. I'm I I can't guarantee you that, but the land that we have won't be here. They just don't make land anymore. Right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:29:56

They just don't build it. Right. And you can't everybody just can't, and don't wanna be the neighbor to a landfill. That's right. So you need so much acreage to make a landfill possible. That's what makes siding so difficult.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:30:15

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:30:15

Because on on on where we sit right now is facilities and a landfill itself, but because of the nature of this operation, this business, what does Swaco own to the east or to the to the north of 665 in Shear Acreage. I know it's over 300 Yeah. 40 some odd

Joe Lombardi [: 00:30:44

Yeah. Just to the north of our entrance is about 350 some acres, and then to the east of that is probably another, you know, couple 100 acres. But, you know, we sit our landfills on about 200 plus acres that we're permitted to use. You can't use all the land for a landfill. You have to have so much distance between the roads or residents. So that sounds like a lot of acreage, but then again, as you said, we're an urban landfill, which is very unique. Very unique. And I'm I'm happy to say that our partnership with the Grove City and our relationship with, the townships has been really, really good.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:31:34

But we have to think of them when we're, when we're expanding and when we're trying to do things here in this particular location. So while we have nearly 500 plus acres of land available, doesn't necessarily mean that we'll be able to put a landfill there. You're gonna have to go through the Ohio EPA, number 1. Number 2, you're gonna have to do community outreach. A lot of people don't like these things in their backyards. And so, if we begin to feel like this landfill won't last that long, we'll probably have to start looking at property elsewhere.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:32:09

Center center of this county, you know, is the is Columbus, the capital city, 14th largest city in America? And to think about the amount of acreage that we are are have set aside for a landfill, I I would venture to guess many communities that are above us on that, population spectrum don't have this much land to use. So it's it's an economic development advantage, but it could shrink quickly

Joe Lombardi [: 00:32:38

That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:32:39

Without proper planning. And and speaking of planning, talk about why SWACO has strategic partnerships with entities such as the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission and, entities like JobsOhio, etcetera.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:33:00

Yep. So great question, Ken. Really, Morpsey helps us in a variety of ways, especially with the population and regionalism. I think that's becoming a big, big subject right now is regionalism. A lot of people cannot just a lot of organizations, a lot of government entities just can't do it themselves. They're gonna need to work with outside their regions, to solve problems. And and Morpsey really helps us in terms of their sustainability efforts that they're trying to do for the the, the region that they cover. We're part of that.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:33:37

And so anytime we can get, data from them that tells us about population growth and what's the next economic growth that's coming, we can begin to prepare so that we don't get behind the eight ball, so to speak. And then you also have the, City of Columbus and Franklin County working with them as well in terms of their development and what they're trying to do, and how do we get involved to make sure that we can start to put some of our programs in place in some of these new developments, and things of that nature. You know, you mentioned earlier, Ken, if if I can go back, about the acreage that's we have. You know, some of that we're looking at economic development opportunity for us. And not necessarily do we want to put the landfill, you know, let's just say north of the landfill. We work with JobsOhio and and 1 Columbus to try to find companies who wanna put their business here in the Grove City area, and hopefully, they're sustainable companies. Maybe they make, EV battery parts. Maybe they they make plastic supplies, from plastic that has been recycled, and we're we're looking for companies that are sustainable.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:02

Right. Right. Great opportunity today.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:35:04

Great opportunity.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:05

And I wanted to get back to that.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:35:06

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:07

You want neighbors, but they need to be compatible neighbors.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:35:11

That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:11

Because just our south, we have a huge battery plant for EBs underdeveloped. Yeah. Maybe they're, you know, suppliers.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:35:21

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:21

We're just a heartbeat away, from a logistics standpoint

Joe Lombardi [: 00:35:26

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:26

To being able to support that large scale battery plant.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:35:30

Yeah. And and, you know, there's this little, development going on, you know, in New Albany, A little place called New Cal.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:35:39

Yeah. It's a few fabs.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:35:41

Yeah. And so they're gonna have second and third tier suppliers for their chips. And like you said, there's an EV battery, plant right 20, maybe 25 miles from here, that, you know, one of their suppliers, we would love to to bring here and put on that land that we have across from the landfill. And and it's an economic development, not only for us and and for our region, but really for Grove City in general. There's jobs that they will benefit from the income tax to provide additional services to the residents of Grove City property tax that they will be able to use for additional services for for their, residents. So really looking forward to 2025 to sit down, with, you know, different organizations to talk about what is the best highest use that we could do for that.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:36:40

Right. And what what, positions Swuego in such an excellent place? The fact that most of your land that you're speaking of, Joe, is truly shovel ready.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:36:56

Yes. Yeah. Utilities. Yes. Infrastructure

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:01

is in 2 places already.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:37:03

Yeah. So the 300 and 50 acres, I believe just a little over a 100 acres is already ready to go, and and and easily could be connected to the additional

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:17

Coming right off of 665. I bet it was

Joe Lombardi [: 00:37:19

coming right off

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:20

of 65. They see Gateway. They see they see, Bill Last Wave. Yeah. I was named after a great, neighbor that passed away a long time. Yep. Remember Bill Lott's. That that road is meant to be developed one day.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:37:35

That's right. We

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:37:36

have a a lot of, job being, creating people making a living.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:37:43

Great access to all the major freeway systems. I mean, right off of 665, you've got 270 going east and west. You've got 71 going both north and south, and it's it's turn out a light, turn out another light, and you're on the freeway. So from a supplier standpoint, the ease of getting in and getting out is I'm there I I can't think of any other place in Central Ohio right now that has land that's sitting right off of a freeway like that. That is developable.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:38:13

And there's talk about, another connector that would even create greater access.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:38:18

Yes. Wait.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:38:20

Mhmm. So it's it's great, great attention here. The this foil this the southern gateway. Yeah. Yeah. I I think that, you know, with, you know, with FedEx and, the amount of medical development that was occurring, and then was gonna be. Grove City is gonna be a great beneficiary of these investments. Let's talk about, the economic benefits to recycle.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:38:56

And let's further elaborate on how it supports our economy.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:39:03

So beside, the environmental benefits of recycling, recycling does bring 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars to companies. Nearly 400 companies just in the Central Ohio region that rely on recycled material for their product. We have one of the largest, if not the largest, recycler plastics just up the road in Hilliard ADS. When I met with them, your milk jugs, as you know, ADS is short is short for Advanced Drainage System, which is stormwater drains that you probably see the black piping, that they put in a lot of our developments around, town and and all over the country. They told me that you could give them every milk jug that comes in and they still wouldn't have enough for the kind of demand that they need for their milk. Now think about that. If everybody in Central Ohio would just bring their milk guns to them, it's still not enough. Still not enough.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:40:17

So there's an economic, value to them. There's companies that rely on this cardboard we talked about to make paper, to make additional packaging. There's companies that take glass that turn that into other products. We have a young, gentleman here, an entrepreneur, who does take the little plastic tabs that are on your bread that I always have to take off and put the twisty tie because that that that little plastic thing makes me crazy. So I I always use a twisty tie.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:40:53

But he'll get it in a finger knot.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:40:55

That's true. Now my wife does finger knots, and and I can't ever get them undone. So if she's listening, please tell her. You don't need to tie it so tight that I can't get out the bread that I wanna eat with. But he makes countertops internal parts of computers and these little plastic tabs that come with your bread bags. So here's a young man who's trying to make a name and a company for himself, and he's relying on us to get him this recycled. So, you know, the economic benefits are are just tremendous. I mean and it takes it helps our resources, our natural resources.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:41:40

Again, those aren't infinite. You you can't keep digging for material to make virgin products.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:41:50

Rebecca had an excellent point when you touched on the PVC pipe and it's like needed for everything. But you stimulated my thought about the

Joe Lombardi [: 00:42:04

milk

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:05

jug. Our product packaging. And I think about over the last 50 years, so many things are packaged so differently than they were. 50 years now. But think about a milk jug, listeners. A milk jug that looked the same for 60 a year. I gotta ask AI why has a milk jug not changed Yeah. Before the end of the week.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:27

Yeah. It's a question in my mind. I gotta ask the I gotta ask 8 out here tonight.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:42:31

That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:32

I'm a ask 8 out. Why has the milk jug not changed?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:42:35

In the fridge.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:36

Have any friend that that that that that that a package instead. That's right. My alma mater, Michigan State University, has one of the best packaging programs, but I don't I'm not there. I'm here. I ain't no hot. Ask him so I gotta ask that guy. You know? Yeah. I think I can find out why, and I know why air is still in the potato chip bag.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:42:56

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:42:56

And why is it? Why is it? We are packaged differently. Everything. Think about it. So the milk jug don't look that much.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:43:04

No. No. It looks the same as it it does. Pretty much. Right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:07

You can't say you can see somebody on the side of a milk carton.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:43:10

No. That's right. That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:13

Well, and and I'll

Joe Lombardi [: 00:43:14

be honest with you, you make a great point. But there There's

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:43:18

no reason for it.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:43:19

There are there are companies, that, for example, Coca Cola is making such an effort to make all their bottles recyclable, And they have done a tremendous job of trying to educate their customers that every bottle that you see on the shelf is from a recycled bottle. And they went so far, and I had to ask them this question because they they turned it on me, the the white Sprite bottles. They do that purposely so that they don't have to separate the green anymore because the Coke bottles were always white. So if you notice all your Sprite bottles now are clear, and they did that purposely to make it easier for them to single source, that recycling material.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:20

I mean, think about this tide, container. If you're more than 30 years old, who would have ever thought that you could go in a grocery store and get something and walk out that would do 64 loads in a in something that's small. You didn't need like a grocery cart full of these, back in 72. Yeah. To watch 64 loads of play.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:44:47

And you didn't have to dig down and get it

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:49

all out

Joe Lombardi [: 00:44:50

and still have.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:44:50

Yeah. Let's not get to talking about the pods that you have today for dishwashers and clothes. Yeah. You gotta have a 100 loads and what you want. So why does you put the milk carton next to this and they pretty much look

Joe Lombardi [: 00:45:03

the same. They

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:45:04

So I don't just make this stuff up on top of the counter. We're really thinking as, as we go through these telefinance.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:45:11

Yeah. Yeah. The the milk carton, as you said, has looked the same as I can remember. And I

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:45:17

don't remember a change. I don't remember changing it. So we're gonna go back to the holidays since this is the, a couple nights before Christmas. How would you recommend that people handle live Christmas trees, wreaths, garlands after they get all those little pine needles? They swim pretty much.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:45:48

Well, that's the first that's the first challenge is you gotta clean up all those pine needles when you're when you're done. And and I do wanna say, you just reminded me, that today is December 23rd. It is my daughter's 30th birthday today. So, if she's listening Happy birthday, Danielle. Danielle. Happy birthday, Danielle. Happy birthday, Danielle. My desk.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:46:10

Yeah. Now she thinks she's old. Right? Yeah. She says she she's old. So she got a long way to go. But back to the trees, those can be placed outside, just like your yard waste. If it's a real tree, a real reef, you can place those at your curbside on the day that your yard waste is picked up, and those would be picked up, by your local service. And then those would be turned into, mulch and and other products like that.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:46:44

We will there are also if you get online, there are locations where you can drop those off in your community if you get on our website. And, again, look for the holiday guide. There's there's information in there about where you can bring those trees.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:47:02

LED technology makes this less of an issue and advances like pre lit trees, etcetera. But what do you do with those pesky string strings of light that you had to like shake 1 and if you can't find just that right one, you're never gonna get the string to work. So you just crumble it up. Yeah. I'm done with it. My patience is done.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:47:25

I I got a whole trunk full. So so we we went to plug in like everybody else, and by gum, dude, they didn't work, so we have to go back out and buy a whole new strand. Now we got a strand of 500 lights that don't work. So earlier, I had mentioned that there's this recycling convenience center located at 2566 Jackson Pike. You can bring them bring all your string lights there, and we have companies that will take those off our hands and recycle them. Do not put those in your trash bin. Do not put those in your recycling bin, but take them to our recycle center, And, we have a bin for you there. When I was there a few weeks ago, it was loaded and it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:48:14

So people were getting ready. And the first thing you always do, plug those lights in. Because you know darn well one of them, though. It's and if you don't find like you said, we should've gotten

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:48:27

the crystal ball. Or you got a bad screen, and every time you plug them in, you turn them on, You you you trip a fuse, and the whole house so black. So they ain't got to throw away.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:48:41

That's right. Well, we have a recycling center they can bring it to. But, unfortunately, you have to go buy another

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:48:48

center. You know what? Another part of, mister Lombardi, your your background that we didn't touch on when we talked about money and we talked about power, we talked about playgrounds, and we talked about public utilities is you have a family history rooted in the rest in restaurants. Mhmm. So let's talk about leftover food from holiday meals. How do

Joe Lombardi [: 00:49:09

we dispose it? So what I would say to our listeners is send those leftovers home with family and friends first. You can freeze them. You can make something of them the next day. We're a big ham family in in the Lombardi household. So I'll be having ham for the next 5, 6 days. I'll have ham sandwiches, ham salad, I'll have ham and eggs, I'll have ham all the time. But I would say for your leftovers, definitely keep them and reuse them. Or you could also get on our save more than food, website, and it will it actually gives you a way to decide how much food do you need based on how many people are coming over so you're not spending, a, all the money to buy all this food that doesn't get eaten.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:50:11

We we have a calculator on there that you can send. We'll have 10 people over. These are the kind of, food that we want, and it'll tell you about how much food you need for those 10 people. Because so often, as you know, we're we're in that season right now where you had thanksgiving, you have the holiday season, you have new year's eve, you have bowl games, you have super bowl. All you're doing is eating. You're eating, you're having parties, you're having friends over, and you always buy more than you think you need. You have all these leftovers.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:50:48

Yep. Yep.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:50:49

What you don't wanna do is throw them away. You wanna send those leftovers home with your friends and family, and reuse them. And and we have actually, there's if I'm not mistaken, there might even be some recipes on there for leftover, food.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:04

Because I've always give you talk of the county bonus content. Mister Lombardi probably has eaten a lot of ham in his life, and when he talks about the 5 or 6 different ways you can eat ham, listeners, he's a former offensive lineman. So that enough tells you

Joe Lombardi [: 00:51:22

that he's

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:23

probably not he's probably had a

Joe Lombardi [: 00:51:25

few vegetables. No, man. But he's probably went heavy

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:25

on protein. Man. Vegetables. Not many. But he's probably went heavy on protein over his life.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:51:31

Yeah. And it it shows now. See? Because you can't eat all that and not do what we did back when I was 20, because you were always lifting or running and moving so I could eat a lamb if I had to. Maybe 4 or 5 Big Macs or something.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:47

So you you you you you you you were a high school offensive lineman and Bishop Richard Bishop Reedy, the blue and gold.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:51:58

Silver and blue.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:51:58

Silver and blue. Silver and blue. The Knights.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:52:03

Silver Knight.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:52:04

Silver Knight.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:52:05

Silver Knight. Just Knights.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:52:07

Okay. Silver Knights. You know, what year it was and what was on a jersey. I think that might have something in my they might have said Knights. And, then they ordered the uniform. Maybe the basketball

Joe Lombardi [: 00:52:17

team jersey that I saw something

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:52:19

when I said the silver knights, the Bishop Rede silver knights. And then you went on to play football at Capital. Mhmm. Purple. Purple. Did I get that right? Purple? Purple.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:52:29

Yep. So, yeah, I was fortunate. I was I was very blessed. I was played 4, 4 years at Bishop Rede. I I was blessed my senior year to have won the state championship. Not me personally, but the team. Was still to this day one of the the greatest moments of of my, athletic career. Played 4 years at Capital University.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:52:52

I am and, again, our senior year, we won, our conference. Unfortunately, we went into the playoffs, that year and had to meet up with Dayton, and that was the end of my career, after that game. But but I I tell people all the time, they they said, which one was more fun, winning that, the OAC championship or winning the state championship? And I always said it was the state championship because in high school, you're playing with a bunch of kids that aren't gonna go on to play anywhere else. You know, in college, you had all those kids that were gonna go place and play together. So you really did it with a lot of grinding, you know, and a lot of average and above average kids that Grit. Yes. Grit. Yeah.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:53:40

That's a good name for it. And, so, yeah, I've always, yeah. So I was we we ate a lot of ham. Matter of fact

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:53:49

Pepperoni too, didn't you?

Joe Lombardi [: 00:53:50

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because we're at Pete's Place and all. Yeah. Yeah. We have pepperoni, and I like pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom. That's my favorite. But I'll I'll tell you

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:54:00

Joe Lombardi. Special. The the best and mushroom. Mark that down.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:54:05

Mark it down. That's that's the one you want. He's a pickle.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:54:11

The executive director.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:54:12

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:54:12

Get a Joe Lombardi.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:54:13

There you go. And and I'll tell you, kid, just, now you got me on sports. The the year we won the state championships back when they still played it at the old at the horseshoe. And when they played, basically, I I always called it the carpet, not the turf because it was this rock hard. You remember that old turf that they had? That's when the track was still around.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:54:33

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Jessica was standing.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:54:35

And we played the day at 11 o'clock the day after thanksgiving. And and I was so full when I woke up, I thought I might be able to play. I'm up. But, you know, you get excited, and you forget all about that. But yeah. So we played Adrenaline just just

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:54:56

burned through all this stuff and turkey and mashed potatoes. And it was cold. That was your that was like the training table. Thanksgiving. You just had to play the day after Thanksgiving.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:55:07

Yeah. With, like, 30 plus of family members telling you to eat, and you're like, I'm not I don't wanna eat. -So -Sorry, Ken. I noticed that. -I was.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:17

-So the highlight of your, games was if you were asked to pull.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:55:22

-Loved it.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:23

-That's about the most action being a guard when you get to pull and then catch somebody unsuspecting and clear them out.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:55:31

It's the best time. It it that was probably, the play, you know, whether it was a trap or a fleet, which for our listening, usually you're pulling a guard and and, usually the person that you're trapping or you're blocking is left alone. They they pretend like they weren't blocked, which is beautiful because they're not suspecting, you know. The door is open. Somebody's knocking.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:55:57

Yeah. It's the most

Joe Lombardi [: 00:55:58

Somebody's knocking on the door. Don't don't you better shut

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:00

the door. To get the, put to get the pool and pull around, swing around, get somebody unsuspecting.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:56:08

It's a beautiful

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:08

It's just a beautiful thing. It's it's about it's it's much better than the only other advantage that offensive linemen has and should have is that they know the snap count. The the The smart ones.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:56:21

The smart ones. I'm not sure if I'm

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:24

a little if I'm Some of them didn't all know the snap count.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:56:27

No. No. If you know

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:28

the snap count, you could fire off Yeah.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:56:30

All person. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:33

Yeah. And funny thing, you know, in youth football, they they they try you out at different positions. And I went out, and Joe, the coach was like, we want you to try center. I'm like saying to myself, there's no way I'm doing that because one, I gotta I gotta hike the ball

Joe Lombardi [: 00:56:54

That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:55

To the quarterback.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:56:56

Yes, right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:56:57

So even when even though I'm snapping the ball, the defendant got the chance to to get on top of me before I snap the ball.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:57:05

That's right. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:57:06

I was the worst center you could ever see. I got replaced after 2 snaps, I believe. Well, because you can say it was over.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:57:16

Because your first goal is to get the ball to the quarterback. That's your that's your first priority.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:57:21

I made sure that I didn't know how to do it, that they would say Yeah. No. Move him on there.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:57:26

And that was the day where

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:57:27

Even if it meant going to the bench, I will not gonna be a sinner. That was just not so I got all the respect in the world for sinners.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:57:35

Yeah. So

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:57:36

they got to look up, but not at least look up.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:57:38

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:57:39

Then and then they got they got the quarterback hands between their legs and they got they get to look up and and they gotta stab the ball and put the court ball in the quarterback.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:57:47

Yeah. You know, quick story. I started out as a fullback, and we got a new high school coach, and he said, have you ever have you ever thought about playing guard? And I said, are you trying to tell me I'm a slow running back? He said, no. I'm trying to tell you you're a quick lineman. So that's how I ended up as a block. So I was like, I'm taking that as a compliment, but it it got me on the field.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:58:14

It got you

Joe Lombardi [: 00:58:14

on the That's right.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:58:17

At least with guard, like I said, you got to move your feet sometimes.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:58:21

Yeah. Yeah. You get to go.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:58:23

It it most of the time, unless you're the left tackle, in today's game, the left tackle is one of the highest paid, most important people. You gotta have great feet Yeah. Because you protecting your your your quarterbacks. That's, much, dominant side. Yep. But back in the day, they just asked tackles to just

Joe Lombardi [: 00:58:45

go forward and block.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:58:47

-You weren't doing that next side and wasn't that glamorous about it. -Yeah. -It was just blocked.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:58:52

-If you were the biggest kid, you were playing tackle.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:58:53

-You were playing tackle. Wasn't you weren't doing them but block. Wasn't that exciting about it. Wasn't then did nobody pay you no attention for the homecoming game? It was just one of the dudes just

Joe Lombardi [: 00:59:04

that out there. The only people that knew you

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:59:06

You don't know a tackle they got on a homecoming court ever.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:59:10

The only people that knew you as a lineman was your mother and your coach. Other than that

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:59:16

Yeah. If there's if there's a Yeah. You were

Joe Lombardi [: 00:59:18

one popular

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:59:21

dude if you made a homecoming court

Joe Lombardi [: 00:59:23

I was not on.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:59:24

In the seventies or the eighties as a offensive tackle, you were one popular dude. They might be out there today. If they out there, pop So that didn't get you. You didn't get quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers. That was the one that owned the homecoming court.

Joe Lombardi [: 00:59:43

But,

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:59:44

not not not Quarterback. Not even a it was tough. It wasn't a linebacker. He's on the homecoming

Joe Lombardi [: 00:59:50

court. Quarterback.

Kenneth Wilson [: 00:59:52

So I guess, you know, folks, I was never on the homecoming court because I'm a high school football thing in the days because I didn't meet the prerequisites. Now let's skip. And let's talk about electronics. And if somebody received new electronics, where can they take their old devices?

Joe Lombardi [: 01:00:11

So there's a lot of locations. You you can actually, some of the best in these.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:00:17

I hated the new contact runs.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:00:19

That was electronic. But, you can take your electronics. Many of your Best Buys will take them back, but if we have, again, our recycling center, I can't stress that location enough. We will take those off your hands, your laptops, your LED TVs. We we we do charge for for the TVs, that come there. But, many of your Best Buys, there are locations throughout Smithville, Ohio that will take especially your computer, your laptop. On our website, if you look under our diversion tab, you have one specific portal, like, option that it's out. All the different location will accept all.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:01:11

So urge your research. Just get on swaikode.org and search for whatever they're looking for.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:01:17

Fortunately, today, televisions aren't hazardous waste. There was a time where televisions were almost hazardous waste. Yep. And there were times where Televisions became subjects, bowing and bowing on the crass crimes test Mhmm. Due to their mercury content and other thing.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:01:37

Yeah. And that so we believe it or not, at our recycling center, we still get some of the old 2 TVs, which is why we unfortunately have to charge you a a small fee, to to dispose of those because we're handing those off to a recycler who has to deal with the hazardous, material that are in some of those old TVs. And some of your old black screens were, you know, still had some Yeah. You know? Had the big backs on that were heavy. Some of your,

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:02:08

yeah, some of your old computer monitors Yeah. Just bad as television.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:02:13

Yep. Yeah. They had that big thing in the back. Old thing in the back,

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:02:17

you know, Sounded like a jet plane in return. Yeah. Those those were very green devices. We evolved. Beyond waste management, Swaco offers several of the programs. Mhmm. Can you, highlight some of these? Recycle right, which is a favorite of mine. Save more than food is a favorite of mine.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:02:41

Mhmm. Because you're talking about, you know, what we just touched on, how to save leftovers, How to preserve, you know, your fresh vegetables and the use of glass containers in order to, more, in a healthier way. And I think let's talk about your grant opportunity for the community is extremely important I want us to touch on. And then your programs for educators and schools, we talked about water bottle program. And then let's talk about the landfill field tour program. And, when is the next one? And then lastly, drop off program. I did not touch them.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:03:25

Yeah. So you mentioned 2 of our, what I would call, our legacy programs, recycle right and save more than food. Those are both educational campaigns, that just there's just a wealth of information on both of those websites about what to recycle, how to recycle, what to do with any of your food leftovers, the economic impacts of both recycling and food waste. But our grants program, I I am just to me, that is one of the coolest things beside all the things that we do. It's one of the coolest things that we do because we're giving back. We're giving back grants to our communities to start programs for recycling or food waste or just waste reduction. We we have a community waste reduction grant, and we also have event, waste reduction grants. We also, will provide, events with resources for their event, whether it would be, you know, bins to put, recyclables in.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:04:36

We do a lot of work with some of our festivals, that we have here in central Ohio. In our education program, I know, Ken, you've heard me say this before. My big push has been the kids, you know, the young the young people coming in behind us because this is really about us protecting that environment for them. And they know more about this subject than I ever did at their age, And I think we need to get into our schools and we need to talk to our elementary and our middle school kids about recycling because they they shamed their parents into doing it. That's what they do. And and so we do a robust job of giving teachers resources. We have a school's recycling champion program where if a school wants to create a green team, so to speak, we'll come out, we'll help you develop that. We'll help you with a food waste program.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:05:36

We'll help you with any kind of recycling program you wanna do. We will come out and talk to your classrooms. We'll come out and talk to your administrators about recycling and and those sort of things. You know, we we had an opportunity to go read to a bunch of 1st and second graders at a local, city elementary school, and we just had so much fun talking to those kids about they they knew the answers to every question we asked. You know, you're trying to stump a second grader. You feel kinda bad because

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:06:10

No. They all nailed it.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:06:12

But but our our tours, we we take landfill tours, we bring groups, we bring children, we had, a senior living, group come out, not too long ago. We we take them on a tour. We bring them into our, currently our temporary education center, to talk about it first, and then we put them on a bus, and we bring them up, and we educate them on how a landfill works and get to show them the inner workings of a landfill. Not sure when our next tour is, but we can we can certainly, if you get on our website, again, our website has so much information on there about our education.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:06:58

You guys buy so many different types of compactors and all kinds of weird looking equipment in order to run this organization.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:07:11

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:07:12

Have you all thought about after the tour cleaning some of the equipment up and do like a touch a truck? You know what

Joe Lombardi [: 01:07:19

I mean? It's funny. We we did when we when we set up our temporary education center, we had if you ever seen the front of a compactor, it has those big wheels with big steel, looks like arrows, basically, and they're just going over, the trash and compacting it down. We had, one that broke, and we put it out front, and the kid kids just love it. And and, you know, we are getting ready to build, a new education center, in the future. We we've already started design of that education center. We're gonna have interactive, displays, and we are gonna put a truck in there that the kids can sit in, maybe just a kind of a cab of it, and kinda give them a visual. But we're really looking forward to that new education center because we're gonna make it more interactive. If you can picture, an education center for ways that kinda reminds you of COSI.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:21

Yeah. You know, the

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:21

kids can touch it and feel it. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:24

It's in there like virtual reality.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:25

Yeah. That'd be that'd be pretty cool. Truck crushing Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:30

Crushing trash. Right.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:32

He's

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:32

going through, like, what a landfill work Yeah. Goes through. Yeah. Because, you know, little kids still like to crush stuff, like the demo stuff.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:40

Yeah. And

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:40

they could make a heck of a living Yeah.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:42

Here. That Oh, yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:44

Crush stuff.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:45

Yeah. And one of the

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:46

things beyond a living wage is just run over

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:48

and crush stuff with

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:08:49

just a train.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:08:50

Good stress release. And and 2 of the things that I wanna make sure I mentioned is number 1, in 2025, part of our budget, we are doing a scholarship program for high school students who want to study environmental sciences or environmental engineering or something in the environmental space. So, the details of that are still being worked out, but, you know, our board, thanks to them, supported that in our budget. And that'll be, I think, the first time SWACO has ever provided scholarships to high school students.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:09:25

I love that, Joe. I think that, this is a a field that it, underexposed. Mhmm. That's why the first time I, saw, your organization space at BizTown for junior achievement. I've been on that as well. That was just the beginning of what can be possible to let kids know about careers in solid waste, disposal because there's so many different components to it.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:10:00

Yeah. And and and the Junior Achievement was the other point I wanted to make. We, you know, we we do support junior achievement BizTown. Just recently, you know, you mentioned Hannah earlier. Hannah and another staff member really worked hard on redoing our space, and it's really cool looking. We are, as part of our 2025, our executive team every quarter goes out and does something in the community. We are gonna go spend a day there and help those kids who are trying to be me or trying to be Hannah. And we teach them how, you know, how how to work it.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:10:38

And so, you know, that is a cool place. It's one of my favorite places to go. It's just really cool to see what those what those kids are getting excited about out there.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:10:48

Yeah. And they really they really get into it too. You know, it's it's representation and it's exposure that, youth have to see in order to know about these career opportunities. And I tell you, Swaco is going places. You, Joe, were on the national news earlier this year. Talk a little bit about that

Joe Lombardi [: 01:11:13

experience. Yeah. So, nightly news with Lester Holt, reached out to our communications team about, food waste in the country and, our Save More Than Food program. And so we we had, NBC nightly news out, and we took a tour of our transfer station, and they did a whole story on food waste and the amount of waste that is coming into our landfills. It was actually great, because it did get us national exposure. It was a New York Times article that was written. I think they they bid on that, and then they decided to follow-up with us. I wanted Lester to be there because I I like some Lester now, and I do like Lester Holt, but he he was fine.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:12:01

Yeah. It was it was really cool experience for me, and it was a cool experience for our team. I think it was, I think it was neat. A lot of people are still talking about it, so that means

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:12:11

a lot of people

Joe Lombardi [: 01:12:12

saw it. So we were we were really proud. And and we we just started, you know, thank you for being on, for me being on this podcast. We're gonna have to reciprocate as we started a a podcast ourselves called Waste ED. Waste ED.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:12:29

When I first saw it, I saw Waste ED. I'm like, oh, they're gonna get in trouble. Waste. I'm like, okay. Now they're gonna say, Suwako got a We Saw Waste podcast, and then you gotta go to explain what that is.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:12:40

Well, it was it was

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:12:42

Waste it.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:12:43

Waste it. Not wasted.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:12:45

They eat. Waste it. Yeah. So so Not wasted.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:12:52

That's right. So so what we what we do on that podcast and what we're trying to expose is is, you know, recycling and reduction and bringing in companies and bringing in people and and individuals who are doing some really cool things and talk about what they're doing in the space of environmental, sustainability. And actually the name of that, it it was interesting. Our safety manager came up with that name, and I thought the same thing you did when I first saw it. I'm like, waste. No, man. We can't, you know, we can't talk now. Because it was, like, right after the whole marathon.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:13:31

You could have great you could have great intro music if you did not if it was named that.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:13:35

But but when you you know? But we we've had a great time with it. We just recorded our 4th episode, and, Hannah and I are the cohosts, but we try to get 1 or 2 people on. It's a half hour, and we try to make it so that you can listen to it on the way to work. And I think we we've we've gotten some really cool guests recently, but,

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:13:57

yeah, we'll want to get you on. So strive to waste Ed. The e and d is capitalized. So strive to it as Swaco. And to make sure we we you might wanna put the e and d not only, in caps, but bolded.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:14:13

Yeah. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:14:14

I think it might be, though. You all have a I've seen you on LinkedIn. It's a cool cover.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:14:19

Yeah. I was a little worried about what the board would you know, I was a little worried about my board when we when we came out with the name of it, but, they they were all on

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:14:26

Thank you, buddy. You're bored. Alright. Alright. They they are.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:14:30

They're great supporters.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:14:31

Yeah. Could you could've called it trash talk too. Yeah. We were thinking about

Joe Lombardi [: 01:14:35

that, but everybody does that. Right? Trash talk, talking trash. So

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:14:38

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's it's it's good. Tell us a little bit also about your webcast series and what topics you cover on there and how can how can, residents participate?

Joe Lombardi [: 01:14:50

Yeah. So we have a lot of webinars throughout the year. We have a variety of subject matters. Sometimes we'll talk about, how do you do food composting at home, how do how can you get better at recycling at home, business business recycling, trying to as we as we now have a business recycling champions program, we're trying to build that up. We also talk about, anything that's in the environmental space. And it it again, our our website has a lot of that. But if you subscribe to our newsletter, we also mention them in our newsletter when the upcoming ones are. They're they're they're a wealth of information.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:15:37

They're done by our staff, who I said earlier are some of the most passionate people I have ever worked with, and they do a tremendous job at these. And they get great reviews. I mean, we haven't yet to hear anybody say your webinar wasn't informative. And so the more we can get people to listen to those and to learn a little bit more, because really, again, it's about changing behaviors, and that's really what we're trying to do is is educate people and change behavior. We don't need you to be, you know, the ultimate recycler. Give it a try. Give it a run. You know? Just just give it a little bit of effort.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:16:13

And and, you know, because like anything else, Ken, you know, you you know, working for the county, working for the city, you can't do it alone. Right? No. The county doesn't have all the answers to everything, and the city doesn't have the answer to everything. It takes everybody. It takes a full community effort, takes individual efforts. You know, one of the things I'm thinking about, and I believe we're gonna look into it as a master program in our community where we find an individual individuals in each of our 41 communities that go out and speak on our behalf, to their to their communities about promoting, you know, what's doing the right thing. You know, just doing the right thing. Not about SWACO, but just about the environment and and doing the right thing.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:16:55

So, you know, it's a really cool time right now to be the executive director.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:16:59

Right. Right. Right. Right. You know, the the the aspirational bubble that is on everything you said is for every resident to be educated on recycling that, has an impact or has, you know, a way to influence the county's future. And if they do that every day, you will blow away the objectives of your 10 year, solid waste plan.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:17:37

That's right. That's right. Yeah. And so, you know and and that's what my message has always been. You know, it it takes it takes all of us in anything that we're doing. And in my role as the executive director, I believe my role is to bring the outside in, to bring the folks in the community in on what we're doing, to promote what we're doing, to brand us out there as the go to person when it comes to waste management. Think of us first before you start a program. Give us a call.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:18:11

We've probably done it. We probably have some program that we can tailor to you, and it's really about being a community leader. It's it's that's who we are. I mean, we we should be, like everybody knows us as SWACO, as landfill. I want us to be known as a community leader in waste management.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:18:33

So that's definitely, the way to go. I'm gonna go off script and, ask a COVID question. Yes. Are you beach or mountains?

Joe Lombardi [: 01:18:47

Mountains.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:18:50

Are you airplanes or bus? I know the answer to this. Well

Joe Lombardi [: 01:18:58

well, I I I I would prefer a car that I'm driving. Ken knows I'm not a big fan of planes.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:19:08

I was thinking of it in in in memories of the great John Madden and the Madden Yes.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:19:13

Madden. That's right. That's right. He went great. He never went to the gym and the

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:19:17

coach never never, never, flew. And, I think in his honor, this Thanksgiving, they put the one of the Madden, expresses on the road

Joe Lombardi [: 01:19:28

Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:19:28

The crew wrote in. Yeah. I That's why I said bus. I wasn't gonna say car airplane because I knew the answer to the question.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:19:35

Yeah. I would take a bus, but I I will fly just so the listeners know it's not the it's it's not fun for me. But yeah.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:19:45

You don't like masks? You don't like to be in the air? Is it turbulence? What is it that you need

Joe Lombardi [: 01:19:50

to So

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:19:53

Big, strong guy. I'm a former offensive line in college football. Yeah. It's An airplane.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:19:58

Yeah. It's

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:19:59

I'd rather not do that.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:20:00

Yeah. It's not the confinement. That doesn't bother me. It it's so I'm good until we start moving. And and then once that wheel starts once they start backing up, I know I I I either I flip out or I just hang in there. Right? And so we're good. And then when he when they hit that gas and they get going, I was like, oh, here we go. And once it gets up, I I'm a little nervous.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:20:28

Once it's at 30,000, I'm okay if it's nice. Right? If it's nice and smooth, but when it starts this, uh-uh.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:20:36

Do you like bigger plane?

Joe Lombardi [: 01:20:38

Yeah. I yeah. I I've been on

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:20:40

small planes. Bigger plane. Yeah. And I fly all the time. The bigger the plane,

Joe Lombardi [: 01:20:44

the better I think. Coming down, you know I don't like to

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:20:46

be told to duck. Yeah. I on the wrong size plane, often, I've been I'm asked to to to

Joe Lombardi [: 01:20:53

to hit my head. And coming down, is is troublesome for me. Just depends on the weather. I I really believe it's it's about the turbulence. Right? And and I've only probably flown maybe 3 times where I thought this is it. This is how it's gonna end. Right?

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:21:09

This is

Joe Lombardi [: 01:21:09

how it's gonna end. So I don't have

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:21:11

to worry about your passport getting full of stamps.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:21:14

No. I got one stamp, and I've had that passport for 10 years. And I got it because my daughter was studying over abroad, and I and I had to go if something was gonna happen.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:21:26

You're more like so the only way only got a passport you're like to get stamps on, is it a beer tour or a pizza tour?

Joe Lombardi [: 01:21:32

Right. So when they see my passport, they're like they're looking like, really one, and you've had it for 10 years. I'm the guy that gets questioned.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:21:41

So You can drive to Canada or Mexico.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:21:43

Yeah. I I wanna do that. I wanna drive to can I haven't been to Canada? I'd love to live to Canada.

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:21:49

I was gonna I was gonna digress, and I was about to go into the topics that I know I will come. But I'm not going to because the the thought of, international travel and such, but I'm not going to work. Now, Joe, it's been a pleasure to talk with you about, Sueco and all the exciting things that you all are doing and and taking this opportunity to hopefully, get the word out about just how important SWACO is to, this region and this region's advance.

Joe Lombardi [: 01:22:27

Well, thank you for having me, Kent. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully hopefully, I was able to impart some, wisdom on on

Kenneth Wilson [: 01:22:32

your And thank you. Yes. And thank you to all of, the listeners of Talk of the County. And I'm gonna conclude with my ending to you because nobody else has time.