Recycling

“Everything old is new again.” I doubt if songwriter Peter Allen was thinking about recycling when he wrote those lyrics, but they certainly do apply. I can hardly believe what I recently saw at Kohl’s. The lovely woven placemats with incredible beauty and softness were made of recycled plastic bottles. There was absolutely no way to tell by looking at them that they were anything but fine fabric. Stain resistant and washable. Was there no end to the desirable characteristics?

Clark County Girl Scout Troop 630 held an Earth Day event May 14 at the First Baptist Church Christian Activity Center. Forty-three Daisies and Brownies earned a “Try-it” badge or Daisy petal by making crafts from recycled items and participating in games and activities to learn about reducing, recycling and reusing. The girls also heard an environmental biologist from the University of Kentucky talk about threatened and endangered bats in Kentucky. Lydia Gapp, Emily Hutchison and Sadie Rogers planned and led the event as their project to earn their Silver Award.

Farmers are known for getting all the possible use out of materials and equipment, but some things eventually wear out or otherwise become unusable. Disposal of such junk can make the farmstead safer and more attractive. The 2010 Fall Recycle Roundup will take place at the parking lot of the Winchester Walmart the week of Nov. 8 through 13. The Recycle Roundup provides an opportunity for Clark County residents to responsibly dispose of old fence wire, old water tanks, rusted-out gates and other such scrap iron at no cost to the resident.

As of Thursday night, 75 percent of the recycling bins had been delivered to residents of the Holiday Hills neighborhood for the first phase of what organizers and government officials hope will be a city-wide project. At a Winchester Municipal Utilities Commission meeting Thursday evening, WMU¿General Manager Mike Flynn gave a presentation of the utility's current projects, and he said the Holiday Hills recycling project has received relatively good feedback. He said he has heard that the only negative feedback comes from resentment.

Keili Herron ate out of the trash all day Friday. The 14-year-old was one of 16 youth from Huntley, Ill., focused on recycling efforts at the Ichthus festival in Wilmore. She found untouched doughnuts and pizza in the trash in the morning. “It's actually not that bad; it tastes just like real food once you get past the fact that there's dirt on it,” Herron said. The group was on a week-long mission trip with Wilmore-based Confrontation Point Ministries, which has coordinated recycling efforts at Ichthus for four years.

Donna Fechter has a new way to positively impact the environment.  Boyle County's solid waste director proudly unveiled two new mobile recycling units Wednesday that will be used to accept and transport cardboard, bottles and cans from festivals and events. The $18,500 cost of the brightly decorated units was covered by a grant from the Kentucky Division of Waste Management awarded to Boyle Fiscal Court. “We wrote the grant for the fiscal year and bought them three months ago, but we waited to have them delivered until it was warm enough to apply the design,” said Fechter.

Dear Editor, At one time in the history of Danville our government representatives told us we were getting trash collection for free. Of course it wasn’t free; the service was paid for out of general tax dollars. But we had to separate that service and charge a “fee.” I don’t recall money for garbage collection being removed from the general budget and having our taxes cut or reduced. Turns out to be a deceptive way to get more money without increasing taxes.

Mayor John W.D. Bowling wants to find out how many people in Danville want door-to-door collection of recyclables. "Do we even know the sentiment out there about recycling?" Bowling asked Monday during a recycling committee meeting. The committee plans to propose a six-month pilot program to the Danville City Commission but decided to wait for feedback from residents. The city may mail out a survey or do a telephone poll. The committee members are debating whether people will be willing to pay for the service.

Solid Waste Coordinator Gary Epperson, left, and SWEEEP (Solid Waste Education Extension Environment Program) member Frank Hicks, right, present checks to the schools collecting the most telephone books for recycling. Earning first place and a $300 check was Shearer Elementary School represented by Principal Ed Sigmond, fourth from left, and Tanner Grigsby, third from left. Placing second and receiving a $200 was Trapp Elementary School represented by Principal Stephen Jenkins, sixth from left, and Hunter Dawson, fifth from left, and Rachael Drumm.

STANFORD - Lincoln and Garrard counties' solid waste program has received more than $121,000 in grant money to add new recycling drop-off points and offer a pair of household waste collection events. Solid waste director Chris Thomason said the money will enable the counties to meet rural residents' desire for easy access to recycling and help keep costs low by selling recyclable materials. "We want to divert as many items as we can away from the landfills," he said. "If you recycle, you're actually saving tax dollars because whatever we make from recycling does not have to come from the county general fund(s)

In recognition of Earth Day, Habitat For Humanity of Jessamine County invites its supporters to recycle their used cars and vehicles to help build hope and homes in partnership with low-income families in Jessamine County. Throughout the month of April, Habitat for Humanity's Cars for Homes program will celebrate its “Every Day is Earth Day” initiative, encouraging people to donate their used cars, trucks, RVs, boats and other vehicles to help raise funds for Habitat For Humanity of Jessamine County and other Habitat affiliates throughout the country.

Winchester residents may begin paying for the amount of garbage they produce, but they will have a curbside recycling bin to use at their convenience, according to a proposal being studied by the city's utilities board. John Culbertson, the principal of MidAtlantic Solid Waste (MSW) Consultants, gave a presentation to the Winchester Municipal Utilities Commission at its regular meeting Thursday. WMU extended a request for proposals for solid waste studies, and MSW Consultants was hired to evaluate and report information about WMU's solid waste system and present the findings to inform WMU, officials and the public about options for services in the near future.

M & M Sanitation has discontinued its solid waste and recycling pick up for the rest of Friday due to road conditions. Pick up will resume Saturday morning for the remainder of the city.

I've often mentioned the display cases in the front foyer of the Library, but the other day as I was walking through the Youth Department, I realized I had forgotten to mention display cases there that also deserve monthly attention. Really, if you want to give your spirits a lift and your artistic sensibilities a lively tweak, you owe it to yourself to go into the Youth Department to look at their monthly displays. They are on the left-hand side just past the J fiction section. Every month, I make a trip down there to look at them to cheer myself up. Some months I make a couple of trips because these displays are too much fun. The displays are of art projects and decorations children make during youth craft times or after story times.

Recently, I­­ got back from my trip to Costa Rica. The trip was part of my coursework for my master's degree in zoology. While I had a great time and learned many different things, a few things really stuck out in my mind. I talk a lot about recycling in my columns because I think it's very important. I believe it's small things like everyone doing their part to recycle that can make a huge impact. While I was in Costa Rica, people at every place we visited recycled. Unlike here where in many places you can toss all kinds of recycling in the same bin, there they still have to sort all their recycling, so it's not as easy.

¿¿A rusted, disabled Chevrolet S10 made its final journey Wednesday, rolling on a trailer into Stuff Recycling where the truck's owner sealed its fate. The truck was used to deliver and sell stolen scrap metal, police said. Its owner was charged, prosecuted and convicted, and the court forfeited the truck to Winchester Police. To make a statement to other potential metal thieves, police decided to crush the truck. “I think it sends a clear message to anyone who hauls stolen metal to a recycler,” Winchester Police Detective Dennis Briscoe said.

Danville's recycling will still go to Lexington, but some of the money from the sale of that material may be coming back. It's only two years into the 10-year contract the City Commission entered into November 2010, but City Manager Ron Scott said the agreement provided for some negotiation of the deal. He and City Attorney Stephen Dexter have met twice with representatives from M&M Sanitation, the company that provides both curbside solid waste and recycling services, and a “good faith” agreement is in place to split revenues from sale of the recyclables 50-50.

Keili Herron ate out of the trash all day Friday. The 14-year-old was one of 16 youth from Huntley, Ill., focused on recycling efforts at the Ichthus festival in Wilmore. She found untouched doughnuts and pizza in the trash in the morning. “It's actually not that bad; it tastes just like real food once you get past the fact that there's dirt on it,” Herron said. The group was on a week-long mission trip with Wilmore-based Confrontation Point Ministries, which has coordinated recycling efforts at Ichthus for four years.

STANFORD - Lincoln and Garrard counties' solid waste program has received more than $121,000 in grant money to add new recycling drop-off points and offer a pair of household waste collection events. Solid waste director Chris Thomason said the money will enable the counties to meet rural residents' desire for easy access to recycling and help keep costs low by selling recyclable materials. "We want to divert as many items as we can away from the landfills," he said. "If you recycle, you're actually saving tax dollars because whatever we make from recycling does not have to come from the county general fund(s)

Donna Fechter has a new way to positively impact the environment.  Boyle County's solid waste director proudly unveiled two new mobile recycling units Wednesday that will be used to accept and transport cardboard, bottles and cans from festivals and events. The $18,500 cost of the brightly decorated units was covered by a grant from the Kentucky Division of Waste Management awarded to Boyle Fiscal Court. “We wrote the grant for the fiscal year and bought them three months ago, but we waited to have them delivered until it was warm enough to apply the design,” said Fechter.