The Lexington Recycling Center will be back in business on Monday, May 4, according to a press release from the Division of Waste Management. The city expects to restart curbside recycling for residences and businesses, as well as dumpster service, on Monday.
Recycling has been off line since April 13 because of a broken shaft, the piece that moves recyclables for sorting at the Recycling Center.
“We know blue carts have been filling up fast with folks spending more time at home,” said Tracey Thurman, director of Waste Management. “We are grateful that Machinex was able to quickly get us parts and work with us on the installation.”
The Center serves communities throughout Central Kentucky. The other cities served by the Recycling Center will be notified today that the operation will reopen Monday.
To help keep the machines running smoothly at the Recycle Center safe, people are asked to only recycle the following items in the blue "Rosie" bins:
- Aluminum and steel cans
- Plastic screw top bottles and jugs
- Dry corrugated cardboard with packing material removed
- Glass bottles and jars (colored and clear)
Residents and businesses can continue to take their paper recycling (newspapers, office paper, paper mail, magazines and catalogs) to the yellow paper recycling bins, at the following locations:
- Masterson Station Park, 3051 Leestown Road
- Constitution Park, 1670 Old Paris Road
- Veterans Park, 650 Southpoint Dr.
- Good Foods Coop, 455 Southland Dr.
- Lexington Recycle Center, 360 Thompson Road
- Pleasant Ridge Park, 1350 Pleasant Ridge Dr.
- Lexington Herald-Leader, 100 Midland Ave.
- Chinoe Creek Apartments, 3522 Creekwood Dr.
Recyclables should be put in the blue cart or recycling dumpster loose, not bagged. Plastic bags can damage the machinery at the Recycle Center.
The City also announced recently that it is again planning to provide curbside residential yard waste pickup this month to its waste management customers.
On Wednesday, May 13, crews will pick up yard waste for everyone who has City garbage pickup on Mondays and Tuesdays; residents who have city collections on Thursdays and Fridays will have their yard waste picked up on Wednesday, May 20.
On March 23, the City temporarily halted curbside residential yard waste pickup to protect City Waste Management employees, who also pick up garbage, a service that is critical to the community.
“We have reviewed our supply of personal protective equipment and are happy to let residents know that we have adequate inventory to schedule a second yard waste pickup this spring,” said Nancy Albright, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works.
Until routine yard waste collections resume, residents have several disposal options:
- Hold material until collection resumes.
- Grass clippings can be left on your lawn and late-falling leaves can be mulched with a mower and left on the ground. Both grass and mulched leaves help naturally fertilize your lawn.
- Start a compost pile using the same materials that would go in your yard waste bin. Plant-based food scraps like coffee grounds, banana peels and apple cores. (No meat, cheeses or fatty foods.)
- Take the material to the Haley Pike Waste Management Facility at 4216 Hedger Lane. Hours for Haley Pike are 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. No limit and no charge for Fayette Co. residents during the collection suspension. ID required.
- Put material in your green trash cart. Make sure to limit the material -- the lid to your trash cart should close when you set it out for collection