Solid Waste Management Plan

The State of Ohio requires solid waste districts in Ohio to develop long-range plans to increase recycling and reduce reliance on landfills. The Ohio EPA's Planning Unit oversees the 52 solid waste management districts who are tasked with ensuring that Ohioans have opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle their waste and that solid waste is managed properly.

The first solid waste plan for Cuyahoga County was ratified by communities in 1994 and has been updated four times. 

Cuyahoga County's Solid Waste Plan does four main things:

• Documents how much waste is produced and recycled in Cuyahoga County -- where it comes from and where it goes.
• Describes how the Solid Waste District will achieve Ohio's recycling mandates, which includes recycling 25% of our residential and commercial waste and 66% of our industrial waste. Currently, Cuyahoga County exceeds Ohio's recycling goals by recycling approximately 30% of our residential and commercial waste and 75% of our industrial waste.
• Details where and how the remaining waste will be disposed of for the next fifteen years. Providing long-term disposal capacity helps ensure Ohio does not have a garbage crisis that occurred in other states that ran out of landfill space.
• Contains a funding mechanism to fund the implementation of the plan.