Share This Article
Article Summary
A body was discovered Friday in incoming material at Rumpke’s Cincinnati Recycling Facility in St. Bernard. The company immediately stopped operations and notified police. St. Bernard and Elmwood Place police are investigating how the person ended up at the facility. Authorities have not released the person’s identity or cause of death.
A body was discovered Friday at Rumpke’s Cincinnati Recycling Facility in St. Bernard, prompting the company to shut down operations while police investigate.
Rumpke spokesperson Molly Yeager said the body was found shortly before noon in incoming material brought to the facility by a truck.
Investigators are working to determine what happened and how the person ended up at the recycling facility.
Police investigate body found at Rumpke facility
The facility is located at 5535 Vine St. in Cincinnati. Rumpke lists the site as its Cincinnati Recycling facility, where recyclable materials are processed.
According to Rumpke, recycling operations were stopped immediately after employees discovered the body. Authorities were then notified.
The St. Bernard and Elmwood Place police departments are investigating the incident. The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office has also been contacted for information about the death, according to local reports.
Officials have not publicly identified the person whose body was found.
How the body was discovered
Rumpke said the body was found in material arriving at the facility for sorting.
FOX19 reported that an incoming truck brought the material to the recycling facility shortly before the discovery. The circumstances surrounding how the person entered the recycling stream remain under investigation.
Police said the man did not work at the facility and believe he had been dead for several days. Officials said Rumpke is working to determine where the body came from. They said the death did not occur at the recycling facility and that the body appears to have arrived there unintentionally with a recycling delivery.
Authorities transported the body to the coroner’s office for examination, WLWT reported.
How Cincinnati’s recycling reaches the facility
The Rumpke facility plays a central role in Cincinnati’s curbside recycling system.
The City of Cincinnati says residents in the city’s single-stream recycling program can place accepted recyclable materials together in their recycling carts. Collection crews then transport the materials to Rumpke’s Material Recovery Facility at 5535 Vine St. in St. Bernard.
At the facility, machines and workers sort the recyclables by type, including paper, cardboard, glass, metal and plastic.
After workers complete the sorting process, Rumpke bales the materials and ships them to manufacturers. Those companies can then use the recycled materials to make new products.
Rumpke says the Cincinnati facility can process more than 1.5 million pounds of material each day at a rate of up to 55 tons per hour. The facility opened in November 2013 after Rumpke replaced an earlier facility that a fire destroyed in 2012.
The facility serves Cincinnati residents and businesses. Rumpke also offers public tours that allow visitors to see how the facility sorts recyclable materials.
A similar incident happened at the facility in 2009
Friday’s discovery is not the first time a body has been found among recyclable material at the Vine Street facility.
In March 2009, Rumpke employees discovered a man in recyclable material after a truck delivered a load of cardboard to the facility. According to FOX19’s contemporaneous report, an employee placed part of the material onto a conveyor belt before workers discovered the man.
The employees immediately stopped operations and notified emergency services and law enforcement. The man was breathing when workers found him and was taken to University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
At the time, authorities investigated how the man had apparently ended up in a dumpster that was loaded onto a recycling truck and transported to the facility.
(The 2009 incident is separate from Friday’s discovery.)
Rumpke operations shut down
Rumpke immediately stopped operations at the facility and notified law enforcement after employees discovered the body.
The company said the temporary shutdown has not affected customer service.
Authorities continue to investigate as they work to identify the person and determine the circumstances surrounding the death.
Officials have not said whether they are investigating the incident as an accident, natural death or possible criminal matter.
Investigators will work to identify the deceased and determine where the incoming material came from. The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office may provide more information about the cause of death after completing its examination.
Authorities may release additional details as the investigation continues.
FAQs
Was the recycling facility closed?
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Rumpke said operations were immediately shut down after the discovery. The company said customer service was not affected. </span>
Is there any indication of foul play?
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Authorities have not publicly announced whether foul play was involved. The circumstances surrounding the death remain under investigation.
How did the body get to the recycling facility?
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Officials have not determined or publicly explained how the person ended up in the incoming recycling material. Investigators are working to establish the circumstances.
