Recycling Center here to stay

“Lots of people have asked for the last month if recycling was going to stop. It was never going to stop,” reassured Mayor David Thompson at Thursday night’s City Council meeting.

While the recycling center has had issues over the past few months, including a diminished work force that resulted in a backlog of recycled material, the center has entered into an agreement that will solve these problems.

“We worked with the City of London to do an interlocal agreement,” explained Thompson.

Part of the agreement put new bins in Knox County’s possession. These bins, which arrived November 8, make the recyclable material easier to sort by reducing the number of times it physically needs to be picked up by workers.

Thompson said the yellow recycling bins the Knox center used will be surplused in the future. The center will keep the newer, wrapped bins.

As further specified in the agreement, London will now pick up and sort the recyclables at some Knox County locations once a week. Current bin locations London will take over are as follows: Mitchell’s Market, Knox Central High School, Barbourville ARH Hospital, Union College, Walmart, Lynn Camp High School, Girdler Elementary School, Flat Lick Elementary School, Jesse D. Lay Elementary School, Central Elementary School, GR Hampton Elementary School and Walgreens.

“It’s not really changed anything other than we don’t have to handle the recycling material,” said Thompson.

Knox kept several spots to maintain. These locations are the Food Pantry, Knox County Middle School, El Mariachi, Family Dollar, Falls Ford and Barbourville Utilities Commission.

Now with much needed help, Knox is also hopeful to expand the program and double local recycling efforts.

“We’re adding [bins] at two or three of the pallet stores in the near future and we’re going to work on getting bins at restaurants,” continued Mayor David Thompson.

Participants can still recycle the same materials they have in the past, including cardboard and plastic. The only new stipulation is the material must be able to fit through the slots in the new recycling bins.