For the past 13 years, Nov. 15 has been dedicated to educating people about the benefits and importance of recycling.

America Recycles Day is celebrated across the country, and southern Ohio is no exception. At 2 p.m. today, at Shawnee State University, Chris Kelley, of Rumpke Recycling, will be speaking about the benefits of recycling. The event is open to the public and will be in the University Center Lobby.

Kelley said there are several ways recycling pays off.

“It’s good for the planet, of course,” he said. “It keeps all that material from going to the landfill and going into the ground.”

Cash is another reason.

“Some materials pay you back for recycling,” he said. An example is aluminum cans. They are weighed at the recycling center and paid according to a standard rate.

“It also drives cost down for products,” Kelley said. He said recycling results in cheaper manufacturing costs.

“It’s easier to recycle a can than it is to mine the materials to actually get a can fresh,” he said.

Kelley said there are many things that can be recycled, including cardboard, newspaper, aluminum cans, office paper, newspapers, and most metals, like steel, copper, brass, stainless steel and aluminum scrap.

In addition to Rumpke Recycling in Hanging Rock, Kelley said, in Ashland, items can be taken to Mansbach Metal Company, and in Porstmouth, Livingston & Co.

“We are separate companies, but we all kind of work together,” Kelley said.

Kelley is pleased with a new generation interested in recycling.

“My opinion is that it is the right thing to do,” he said. “It’s really starting to take off. You see it on the news and in the papers more. It’s good to get the younger generation into recycling.”

Kelley said there was a surge in recycling during World War II, but people got away from it after that.

“We need to get that mentality back – reduce, reuse, and recycle,” he said.