City of Delaware, Delaware County, and regional officials joined with Rumpke Waste and Recycling executives Friday to cut the ribbon on the new joint Transfer and Recycling Center (TRC) located on U.S. Route 42 North.

The new $6.5 million, 14,000-square-foot facility is located next door to Delaware County’s existing transfer station and is designed to “handle future projections for daily waste volumes as the region’s residential and commercial population continues to grow.”

The new facility design includes improved traffic flow, a public recycling dropoff, and easy access waste drop off for residential and commercial customers, Rumpke reported Friday.

The existing Delaware County Transfer Station next door will be repurposed for other uses by the Delaware, Knox, Marion & Morrow (DKMM) County Solid Waste District.

Tiffany Maag, director/sanitary engineer at Delaware County Regional Sewer District, was one of the speakers at Friday’s event and said the new facility will allow for the county to manage “the fast paced growth in the county in a cost-efficient manner and will also, at the same time, make drop off and recycling easier for our residents.”

“This project has been a successful public/private partnership between the county and Rumpke, and we look forward to that continued collaboration for many years to come,” Maag said.

Erik McPeek, deputy director of operations with Delaware County Environmental Services, said the new facility will be a “vital asset” to the community and surrounding counties for many years to come.

“We wanted to improve the infrastructure and provide services to support the continuing growth in the county,” McPeek said.

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Chief of Waste and Recycling Materials Nichole Lemin applauded the partnership between the county and Rumpke.

“It’s projects like this that continue to make Ohio a great place to work, to raise a family, to live, and it helps the community reduce their waste that goes to the landfills, reduces disposal costs, and it ensures that folks within the community have a place to take their materials so it may be used elsewhere. It’s a valuable investment in the community.

Jenna Hicks, district director of the Delaware Knox Marion and Morrow (DKMM) Solid Waste District, said the mission of the facility is to properly handle the waste generated in the four counties.

“(This facility) really helps us in achieving our mission and getting that done,” Hicks said. “(It’s a) natural next step for us to ensure that recycling has a firm footing in Delaware County. A lot of small businesses and our residents will have a lot of benefits from this facility. We are excited to be working with the county to develop the old transfer station (to divert even more materials).”

Andrew Rumpke, Rumpke Waste & Recycling area president, was the last speaker at the event. He said the project, which began in 2018, was an “all hands on deck” public and private partnership.

“We are so, so excited and honored to have been chosen and selected to be the partner in this project,” Rumpke said. “We can’t wait for this facility to open and can’t wait to start delivering the benefits that it’s going to give to the community and this county. When Delaware County needed a transfer station, we were honored they chose Rumpke to build and operate the facility for the next 20 years.”

Rumpke said the facility will eventually feed into Rumpke’s Rumpke Recycling and Resource Center, which is being built in Columbus and aims to open next summer.

“Recycling will flow through this site and go to (that facility),” Rumpke said. “By providing Delaware residents and businesses with an additional recycling option, we’re going to increase the amount of recycling that’s diverted from landfills and will conserve more valuable energy and natural resources, while fueling Ohio’s circular economy. This is an environmental win for the residents and businesses of Delaware County and Rumpke is a proud part of that.”

The facility is located at 892 U.S. 42 N., Delaware, next to the current transfer station, and it is expected to open next month.

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.