Learning Where Your Garbage Goes ~ Rumpke Landfill Tour

On a 95 degree day, my boys and I took a very unusual tour. We were invited to take an adventure to Mt. Rumpke.

Mt. Rumpke is a landfill owned by Rumpke Waste Removal that was a former hog farm owned by William Rumpke.

Yes, we went on a landfill tour.

Rumpke offers a lot of tours each year

They actually had over 10,000 visitors take the tour last year.

We learned interesting facts about the different types of garbage trucks.

Did you know that a new garbage truck cost around $250,000??!!!

Our tour guide, Sara, shared with us about the history of Rumpke and talked about what Rumpke does to keep the environment safer.

They use a thick lining on the bottoms of the landfill so that the garbage doesn’t affect the ground underneath.  There is also a 3ft layer of clay at the bottom and sides of the landfill.

Rumpke uses the rainwater from this pond to wash the trucks and to also spray down the roads on the hill.

The climb to the top gave us a good view of the surrounding area.

Below is a mound of ground-up tires.

During our tour, we got various vantage points to see how huge the mountain is!

A garbage truck makes about 500 residential stops a day.

I fully expected to smell garbage the whole time but Rumpke uses an all natural odor neutralizer round the clock to help keep the smells under control which was a relief.

Rumpke also has 200 gas wells that suck gas out of the landfill and turn it into natural gas energy. This is an innovative way to turn something that could be seen as negative into a positive.

Unusual things buried at Mt. Rumpke

During our tour, we learned about two unusual things buried at Mt. Rumpke…. an elephant and the World’s largest chocolate bar. You need to take the tour to find out more about those stories.

What you put in your garbage can at home directly affects how much waste ends up in a landfill.

Observing the mound of garbage really showed us how much of a difference in our own waste compounds with others.

I had always thought that garbage was sorted after being taken away by the garbage truck. That is not true. The garbage goes directly to the landfill.

Our family has the opportunity to choose if we want to take steps to make that mound not as high by how we choose to dispose of our trash.

I think it all comes down to habit and making the process as simple as possible.

The tour was a great way to make our family realize that what we do can have an impact on our environment in a positive or negative way. This would be a great tour for schools or homeschooling groups.

Rumpke also offers recycling options for residents that vary by city.

Rumpke tours are free and take place on Wednesdays at their Colerain Township location. The tours last 45 minutes and are conducted by bus.

You can find out more about Rumpke from their website.