Rumpke Opens $32 Million Ohio Recycling Facility

Rumpke Consolidated Companies Inc. has opened a $32 million recycling facility in St. Bernard, Ohio, that it said is its largest and most technologically advanced.

The Colerain Township, Ohio-based Rumpke said the 100,000 sq.-ft. facility is capable of sorting 55 tons of recyclables every hour, according to a news release.  The system, designed by Plessisville, Quebec-based Machinex Industries Inc., has the potential to process 1 million pounds of recyclables daily and will serve more than 4.5 million residents in Cincinnati and beyond.

The new Rumpke facility includes six optical scanners, two electromagnetic eddy currents and hundreds of spinning discs. It employs nearly 100 to initially sort 500 tons of material daily.

In April 2012 Rumpke suffered an extensive fire at the facility, and the company said it wanted to rebuild the operation to ensure cost-effective recycling for the region.

“I am very proud of this new facility,” said Jeff Rumpke, company vice president. “However, I am more proud of our team, and how we all pulled together in the hours after last April’s devastating fire to come up with a short-term plan that ensured uninterrupted service for our customers and a long-time vision to grow our business.”

The facility was designed to handle additional capacity and the ability to process additional types of materials “as new recycling markets become available,” Rumpke said.