The city of Lexington is moving toward increasing fees for public and private entities using the recycling center. The matter came before City Council’s Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee Tuesday.
Division of Waste Management Director Tracey Thurman says raising the fee from $35 to $50 a ton would help reduce the material recovery center’s operational deficit. “We’re kind of looking at that opportunity to close the gap by doing that increase that we haven’t done since 1992, re-evaluating that commodity mix, trying to redefine those processes for commodity sales working in tandem with the division of purchasing,” said Thurman.
Part of the financial strain at the Lexington recycling center is related to acceptance of glass. Commodity Marketing Manager Barry Prater says running glass through the separation machinery causes significant wear and tear on equipment. Plus, recycling glass is a break-even proposition. “The glass is a major issue, just based on the fact that it is so abrasive to the equipment,” explained Prater. “I would estimate last year we probably had a ten to 15 percent of our maintenance cost was directly related to glass.”
In addition, to raising fees, the commodity mix is under review. Prater says it’s important for recyclers to know it’s best to only toss plastic jugs and bottles into Rosie recycling containers, not yogurt or cottage cheese containers.?
