Keep Cincinnati Beautiful says mobile "Don't Dump the Natty" events divert large volumes of waste, eyes expansion

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful presented results of its "Don't Dump the Natty" mobile collection program to the Cincinnati City Council's Healthy Neighborhoods committee, saying the monthly Northside events divert sizable volumes of waste and help reduce illegal dumping.

"We have been taking all City Of Cincinnati residents to reduce the amount of illegal dumping by providing them with a what's basically a mobile, refuse site," Jonathan Aide, program lead at Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, told the committee. Aide said the group now collects roughly 150,000 pounds of material at each event and estimates about 1,350,000 pounds diverted over the nine events it holds annually.

That figure includes about 1,600 pounds of recyclables per event and roughly 2,500 pounds of e-waste each month, Aide said. He told council members the program also collects about 350 tires per event, or nearly 4,000 tires annually, and that Rumpke coordinates recycling of tires into playground surfacing and similar products.

The program operates from a site at 3929 Cherry Street in Northside on the last Friday of most months from about 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Residents drive up, unload items — volunteers and Department of Public Services staff help direct traffic and pack material into DPS packer trucks — and average service time is less than five minutes when lines are short, Aide said.

"We don't have the trucks. We don't have the infrastructure," Aide said, noting DPS supplies packer trucks and traffic control and that volunteers staff multiple stations. He told the committee that DPS labor is not included in Keep Cincinnati Beautiful's internal cost accounting.

Aide said roughly 8–9% of what the program collects appears to come from non‑City of Cincinnati residents and that the group plans to ask Hamilton County to participate because the county also benefits from reduced illegal dumping. "We're planning on addressing that with the county commissioners here at the end of the year to ask them to participate," he said.

On funding, Aide said Keep Cincinnati Beautiful received $79,000 from the Office of Environmental Sustainability this year and estimated the full program budget at under $150,000. When pressed by council members, he reiterated the program's total annual cost runs roughly $150,000 and said the organization is pursuing corporate sponsorships to offset costs.

President Pro Tem Victoria Parks praised the shift from punitive enforcement to incentives for lawful disposal. "Instead of arresting 100 to 200 perps, you provided incentive to behave lawfully," Parks said, urging county partnership to expand access. Council member Anna Albee and Council member Scottie Johnson also thanked Aide and noted partner contributions from volunteer groups and corporate supporters such as Alta Fiber and O'Rourke Wrecking.

Looking ahead, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful said it wants to run the events twice a month and to pilot a rapid-response graffiti cleanup program in partnership with the University of Cincinnati and city departments aimed at removing graffiti within 12 to 24 hours.

The committee filed the presentation for the public record and adjourned.

Sources: Presentation to the Cincinnati City Council Healthy Neighborhoods committee, presenter Jonathan Aide (Keep Cincinnati Beautiful); remarks by Vice Mayor and committee chair J. Michelle Lisonbee Kearney; President Pro Tem Victoria Parks; Council members Anna Albee and Scottie Johnson.