Recyclable materials collected today by Lexington city crews are being diverted to a landfill. The need to dump the material comes after multiple mechanical failures at the city’s recycling center.
The facility typically processes some 22 tons of recyclables per hour. Environmental Quality and Public Works Program Manager Angela Poe says wet items are the major culprits. “What happens when we get the wet material is the cardboard soaks up tons of moisture. It also affects the paper and basically that paper machete goo that results, gets gummed up in our equipment,” said Poe.
There are also day to day issues at the downtown facility. “There are ongoing conversations about how to maintain and the recycle center, but regardless of what we do in terms of that, it’s still very helpful to have the public recycling properly.” Noted Poe.
Poe says citizens participating in city recycling can help by only putting dry material in the Rosie recycling container as well as commercial entities properly securing dumpster lids. If all goes well, recycling pickup should resume early next week.
