Brecksville’s Service Center Welcomes Visitors from Ukraine

Earlier today, a group gathered at Brecksville’s Service Department, eager to learn more about the city’s recycling program. They asked questions of the city’s Director of Public Services, Ron Weidig, and took photos of the process. 

The individuals are from Ukraine, and they’re spending three weeks in the Cleveland area learning about our region’s waste management systems, gathering information to take back and apply at home. 

The 10 individuals are all from the same region of Ukraine, an area that has been running out of landfill space, said Gina Cirino, an international visitors program officer for the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. They work in a wide range of jobs, from news to village and city councils to a medical university. 

But all of their positions can be described as being part of the sustainability field, Cirino said. The individuals will work on action plans during their trip, focusing on how they can apply what they learn in the U.S. to their jobs at home. 

During the three-week trip, the guests will visit and meet with staff from various sites in the region, from the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District to Cleveland Public Power to Slavic Village. Some of the programs they’ll visit require large budgets, while others are more grass-roots projects, Cirino said. The group will also learn about how to advocate for sustainability and get their mission out in the media. 

During the trip to Brecksville on Monday, the guests watched members of the Service Department crush cardboard boxes and explored the facility, asking questions of Weidig through the two interpreters. Weidig answered their questions, telling them about how Brecksville handles different kinds of recyclables, as well as yard waste like tree branches, which is chipped for mulch. 

The group also took a trip to Timber Trail, where they watched a garbage truck, a recycling truck and a yard waste truck collect various kinds of waste. 

The trip to Brecksville kicked off the guests’ last full week in the United States. The trip began on March 10 and will end on March 31. The individuals are being hosted by families in Cuyahoga County, Cirino said, and there is some time set aside for them to explore some tourist sites in the area. The last two days will be spent in Chicago, Cirino said, mostly seeing the sights. 

The program, Community Connections, is sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, Cirino said. The groups are placed in cities across the country, and the Cleveland area was chosen for this program on ecology and sustainability.