Clearing up confusion about Rumpke recycling trucks

One of our readers sent us the following email regarding his recent conversation with a Rumpke driver who was placing recyclables in what appeared to be a regular trash truck:

I know there has been some talk in the past on the blog about the Rumpke guys throwing recyclables in a trash truck. I thought I saw a driver doing the same thing this morning and I approached him about it. He told me the old recycling trucks were going away and the new recycling trucks were just trash trucks that were being segregated for recyclables. So, we can still expect separate trucks, but, at first glance, they will both appear to be trash trucks. Clear as mud?… I thought you might want to post something regarding this in case anyone else was confused.

Yes, well, we were confused, too, so we approached Health Commissioner Pamela Walker-Bauer for some clarification. She did some quick research and sent us the link to the “Frequently Asked Questions about Recycling” page on Rumpke’s website, which states:

Question: I have seen my recycling bin picked up by a truck that is marked Rumpke Recycling, but it looks like a Rumpke trash truck. What’s going on?

Answer: Rumpke Recycling trucks come in all shapes and sizes. Some recycling trucks are the older box trucks that have compartments that used to be used to separate the paper materials from the other recyclables. Other trucks look like our garbage trucks, but are marked as Rumpke Recycling vehicles. With the birth of single stream recycling in 2002, it was no longer necessary to pre-sort the materials. The box trucks, which offer limited capacity and demand smaller routes, are still used here and there, but for the most part, Rumpke Recycling is converting its fleet into traditional rear load trucks which offer much greater capacity and a compaction system.