From Incineration to Net Zero -The Ludlow Trash Saga

Photo by Jeremy Kramer; courtesy of Cincinnati Magazine

If you are not a Ludlow native, chances are you have never heard of the incinerator built in 1931 outside of the Devou Park northwest edge to dispose of the increasing amount of garbage generated in the city. It operated until 1959 when the city trash was hauled to a local landfill in the region by a company contracted by the city. The remains of the old incinerator lie in forested land, roofless, decorated with every imaginable graffiti, and now fenced off. Over the years this site gained the reputation of being haunted and full of mysterious happenings. It became a hangout the local kids explored and did whatever kids do in such a place. Today the hiker and biker trail from Sleepy Hollow Road near the trestle can lead one to see what’s left of the building and the smokestack. This site now merits as one of the Weirdest Places in Greater Cincinnati.

A Newcomer’s Experience with Ludlow Trash

I grew up in Northern KY (Bellevue), but spent much of my adult professional life in Springfield, Missouri. By the mid 1990s, that city had recycling in place, and I had worked with organizations concerned with solid waste issues which had become more serious about the increase of plastic packaging, bottles, and a host of other consumer products. I had my first exposure to the city’s landfill when a class I taught on Environmental Politics visited this site. What a site with every conceivable manner of solid waste and odors- a mixture of the contents and the methane gas, a by-product of landfills and a major cause of global warming! I vowed at that point I would do whatever I could to address solid waste problems. I moved to Ludlow in 2005, and of course the first thing I noticed was that the city had a twice a week trash     collection and no recycling. I didn’t know anyone here, so what I did was check out what nearby towns were doing, and learned that several had recycling. I found the name of the Rumpke municipal agent that worked with Ludlow, met him over breakfast, and his basic message was “Ludlow has had its trash schedule in place for years, and it will be hard to change.” Then I ran a little article in the community paper at the time, asking for names of residents who had an interest in recycling. Four people responded, and over several meetings we laid out a strategy:

• Present to City Council the need for recycling;

• Collect data from all 18 Kenton County municipalities about their trash policies;

• Build up a community of supporters via the city news publication and by word of mouth.

The city told us that we had to prove that the people in Ludlow wanted recycling, so several of us went door to door over several months .Some of the biggest objectors were River’s Breeze residents who feared that putting recycling in those open red bins would result in trash blowing all over the place because of high winds on that hill! But we were able to get enough people on board- close to 300- that the city approved a recycling plan by subscription only, meaning that those who recycled had to pay an extra fee. And twice a week trash collection continued.

In due course when the city trash contract came up in 2011, we were able to convince City Council to take a vote on a once a week regular + recycle collection with the same fee for all, whether residents recycled or not. That vote failed because one member reneged on his promise. We went back to the drawing board and with some new people being elected to Council, by 2013 we figured we had another chance to move our proposal for a once a week trash and recycle collection with all residents paying the fee regardless of whether they chose to recycle or not. We lobbied City Council members and got the local Garden Club, members of the local Sierra Club group, and neighbors we knew to show up at the meeting when Council would take the final vote on the plan. Council people were somewhat flabbergasted to see so many people at a council meeting (a rarity in Ludlow), and we finally won the day with only one dissenting vote.

Why did it take eight years for something, so seemingly simple, to get passed? First, there were city leaders who wanted to continue business as usual, don’t rock the boat! Secondly, not a small number of residents told us in our petition drive that they did not want the government telling them what to do, and furthermore, it was just another way Rumpke would make more money selling recyclable trash without any return to the residents. It’s just darn hard for people to change, but our group never gave up hope.

The lesson we all learned was that politics is messy in a democratic society, and change never happens easily and without persistence. As Gandhi once uttered, ”You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

So What About Reaching Net-Zero?

The Rumpke Company maintains accurate records of trash volume and the kind of solid waste that goes into the trash stream. They estimate that 40% of what goes into the landfill today is recyclable material. This means that residents and businesses can help Rumpke and its customers contain their costs by extending the life of costly landfills! Rumpke recently contracted with the HEFTY ReNEW program whereby a whole range of plastics and foam products that Rumpke doesn’t recycle can be placed in orange bags and put in one’s recycling container. These orange bags are available at Kroger, WalMart or Amazon. You will be amazed how your trash volume is reduced. And if you compost food waste, you are practically at Net-Zero!