Thanksgiving is the start of a busy holiday season and no better time for the Volunteers at the Marietta Area Recycling Center (MARC) to express their thankfulness for all of the community support in 2024. You helped in making sure we maintained a 24 hour/7 day a week recycling drop-off site for our community and surrounding areas.

This year had its weather challenges. It started with frigid temps that actually froze our plastics into the compacter and with the help of Randy our Rumpke Driver and Mondo Polymers we were finally able to unload. We then moved on to two back-to-back floods in March. The first flood covered the entire site with at least a foot of water quickly followed by a second within 2 days of our re-opening. The flood recovery could not have happened as quickly without the help of Glen Santee, Bob Ritchey, Horst Siffrin and Sue Price. With the lot covered with a thin film of mud, new gravel was needed and we are thankful for the support of a grant from the Marietta Community Foundation that made that happen so we were ready for reopening.

We then celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Marietta Earth Day Celebration at Armory Square in April. It was a beautiful spring day and we had over 500 in attendance participating in earth friendly arts and crafts activities as well as educational displays such as the Raptor Presentation. All of this could not have been done without the support of Peoples Bank as a sponsor as well as the Marietta Civitan and Kiwanis Club of Marietta.

…And then it just got HOT and for the entire summer into early fall Volunteers diligently worked around the very warm days to keep up with intake. MARC is unique in that it is totally volunteer run. Volunteers come no matter the weather to make sure that we can maintain the inflow, 365 days a year. This is no small task, especially this year, and so my sincere thanks to the following volunteers: Dee Baker, Ben Ballard (Peoples Bank), the late Brad Bond, Ellen Bond, Laura Bradley, Cindy Brown, Jenny Bruce, Cindy Burnfield, Carla Cassidy-Archer, Les Futrell, Tim Heiss, Loren & Miles Henthorne, Janice Hensler, Anita Kesterson, Jody Kohler and Jim Wright, John Line (Website), Carissa Miller, Angela Montgomery, Tom O’Neil, Sue Price, Bob Ritchey, Esther Salem, Glenn Santee, Randy Schilling, Elke Schnabel, Russ Schreiber, Tammy Schreiber, Horst Siffrin, John Tillson, Lori Tofaute, and Susan Wunderlich. Tim Heiss also helps with hauling plastics as needed in addition to taking care of our scrap steel and aluminum. We also have student volunteers through local college programs including Marietta College’s Leadership Program which have been extremely helpful to MARC as follows: Shelby Carr, Emily Keefer, Rachel Neu, Connor Rothandler, Rowan Schulde, and Zachary Worstell as well as Alvin Varghese from WVUP. Without this very loyal hardworking volunteer base, there would be no MARC and so I am extremely thankful for them.

MARC lost a very special volunteer this year, Brad Bond. For over 35 years Brad volunteered 6-7 days a week until the young age of 94. He kept a firm hand on cardboard especially packing pasteboard during the later years. Brad could pack a small Chewy box tight enough to make it weigh 50 lbs.! He was instrumental in making sure we reached tonnage goals to help cover haul costs. Thanks to the Bond Family for sharing Brad with us over the years. He was one of a kind.

I also have to make mention of another volunteer who retired this year, Glen Santee. Glen stepped in and started helping Brad about 10 years ago by taking on stacking the corrugated cardboard. This is a BIG job. Glen came 5 days a week or sometimes more, as needed, and helped keep the Cardboard Trailer in top shape as well as making sure things ran smoothly operationally elsewhere on site (all while telling a story or two). Thank you, Glen.

On the operational front, we have continued to deal with high transportation costs. We are dependent upon Sponsorships to help bridge funding gaps and are extremely grateful to the following businesses who are sponsors of MARC, namely: All Pro Nutrition, Bosner Plumbing Electric & Refrigeration, Eye Care Associates of Marietta, Hall Financial Advisors, Marietta Adventure Company, Mattressmax, Peoples Bank, R.W. Miller Plumbing & Electric, Inc., Wildroot Flower Company and Wilson Heating & Cooling.

MARC is also able to continue to accept plastic bags and plastic film because of the generous assistance of Mondo Polymers. They pick up these plastics along with plastics that do not compact well within our compacter. MARC plastics get recycled right here in Marietta by Mondo and are made into guardrail blocks and tire chalks.

The recyclers that come to MARC are also very helpful by following materials guidelines and sorting into appropriate containers so that volunteers can focus on review for contamination and packing for goal tonnage. Many also help by donating to MARC…so a big note of thanks for supporting the Recycling Center in these ways!

A reminder as we clean out our homes out from the Holiday Season, we accept paper (wrapping paper, office paper, newspaper, magazines and soft bound books), cardboard (flatten), steel, aluminum, green/clear/brown glass (bottle glass only), and #1, 2, 4 & 5 plastics (recycle triangle on bottom of container). Please sort into the designated totes/containers at the site as our volume exponentially increases during this time of year. If you have any questions on materials, visit our website at mariettarecycling.org or our Facebook Page.

Would you like to Volunteer? An hour a week can make a difference – Call Kathy Ortt (740) 373-3372.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kathryn Ortt

Marietta, OH