Twenty six recycling programs across Kentucky will share $2.3 million dollars in state grants to further their efforts to reduce the amount of solid waste going into landfills. The new funding comes from the Kentucky Pride Fund.

The City of Ashland received $20,008 to go towards purchasing drop boxes where residents can drop off recyclables. The city will accept newspaper, cardboard and other waste papers, plastics and aluminum.
Three drop boxes are planned for the city.

The Pike County Fiscal Court received a grant of $205,161 to help purchase balers, a forklift, scales, recycling containers and educational materials

The Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet’s Division of Waste Management (DWM) awarded the grants Friday. The fund, expanded by the General Assembly in 2006 to include funding for recycling, collects a $1.75 fee for every ton of municipal solid waste disposed of in Kentucky landfills.

“Recycling not only benefits our environment, it also benefits our economy,” said Governor Fletcher. “Recycling helps reduce litter, extends the lifespan of Kentucky landfills and creates markets for material with recycled content. Many communities across the state want to begin or expand recycling programs,” he said. “But they often need assistance to obtain the necessary equipment. That is what these grants will do.”

The recycling grant program is aimed at enhancing Kentucky’s recycling infrastructure and boosting the state’s household recycling rate to well above the national average of 28.5 percent. Kentucky’s current rate is 27 percent.

“We should not be satisfied with a recycling rate that is merely average,” said Governor Fletcher. “I am confident that Kentuckians can do much better than that.”

The grants awarded today require a minimum of 25 percent local match in the form of cash or “in kind” services, materials or equipment.