Sarah Cook

Sarah Cook

Recycling Marketing Specialist at Rumpke Waste & Recycling

For Sarah Cook, finding a team with passion and love for its work was a priority when seeking a new position. Having previously worked for a uniform and facility services company, Cook says she was seeking the right fit for her interests.

“I was graduating with my master’s in marketing [from] the University of Cincinnati, and I wasn’t really looking for a specific industry to join. [I was] more so trying to find the company, for me, that was the right fit,” she says.

This search led her to Cincinnati-based Rumpke Waste & Recycling, where she interviewed for her current role as a recycling marketing specialist. Upon meeting the marketing team members and hearing about their love for the company, Cook says she knew she was in the right place.

"The less consumers have to remove from packaging to make it recyclable, the better.”

In the year and a half since she joined the Rumpke team, Cook says she has dived headfirst into the inner workings of the company and the greater recycling industry. In her early days on the job, to get a better understanding of the industry and to become acquainted with the materials and processes, she traveled to almost every Rumpke recycling facility throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. During her travels, Cook says she met with the company’s buyers and partners.

In her role, Cook primarily works with packaging manufacturers to help them develop more recyclable products. She shares her experience entering the industry and the role she plays with Rumpke in a conversation that occurred in mid-December 2022.

Waste Today (WT): What were some of these learning experiences like for you when you were going to the different Rumpke facilities?

Sarah Cook (SC): For me, the only involvement I had in waste and recycling before I joined Rumpke was putting my Amazon boxes and used beverage containers (UBCs) on my curbside. So, that was the extent of what I knew about recycling.

When they showed me around the MRF (material recovery facility), it was really cool seeing how all that worked, how everything got sorted. And then getting to go to our end users—the people who buy our water bottles and our cardboard containers and our UBCs … it was really neat getting to see that.

I often tell people I get to be a part of “How It’s Made” episodes, so getting to see the process from start to finish.

WT: What are conversations like with packaging manufacturers when helping them increase recyclability of their materials?

SC: First, you could look at what kind of products they’re already using for packaging. … Looking at [whether] the type of material they’re currently using … is recyclable. Is there a way for them to simplify their design? Making it as simple as possible for consumers … is a good way to start. The less consumers have to remove stuff from packaging to make it recyclable, the better.