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Recycling
By Billy Steele
Pendleton County Solid Waste Coordinator
As your Solid Waste Coordinator for Pendleton County, I am asking you to recycle, but also to recycle correctly.
We are fortunate to have recycling dumpsters at each school in Pendleton County for our citizens to use, provided free of charge by Rumpke. I would encourage all users to pay attention to the signage on the outside of each container which details what items are accepted in the program and what items should not be placed in the container. You can also find the same information on Rumpke’s website www.rumpke.com. Items should be placed in the containers loose – not contained in plastic bags. Items can be placed in the containers loose.
Rumpke transports the material from the Pendleton County recycling containers to its recycling center in Cincinnati for processing. This facility uses advanced technology to skillfully separate material by type and prepare it for manufacturers. Placing unacceptable items into the county recycling containers can cause big problems for recycling equipment causing down time, costly repairs, and contamination of the recycled materials. It is unfortunate, but in recent weeks, I have found construction demolition debris blatantly placed on the ground beside the recycling boxes and this cannot be tolerated. There is no excuse for this type of action, as Pendleton County has a “Free Day” at the landfill the second Saturday of every month 7 a.m. – 11 a.m. for this type of disposal opportunity. Anyone identified with discarding this type of material at the recycling locations will be charged for criminal littering. Criminal littering under Kentucky law is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and up to a $500 fine. In addition, we will typically require the defendant to clean up whatever mess they made and pay any damages to the property owner where the littering occurred.
Plastic bags are probably the biggest problem Rumpke sees in the recycling stream. Plastic bags should only be used to dispose of your household trash, and not to transport your recyclables to the recycling dumpsters. I recommend using a plastic tote to collect and transport recyclables to the dumpster. You can then empty your recyclables into the dumpster and reuse the tote for your next visit. A cardboard box for transporting is also perfect. Fill it with all your recyclables and deposit everything in the bin.Please do you part to help Pendleton County achieve the lowest contamination rate possible. I am happy to advise you that the rejection and tighter quality standards imposed on recyclable materials in China have NOT impacted Rumpke Recycling. Ninety-eight percent of Rumpke’s recycled materials are purchased domestically and not exported. If you currently do not recycle in your home, I encourage you to do so. If you are recycling, please take another look at the signage on the recycling bin, or visit www.rumpke.com to ensure you are doing so properly.