Municipal Recycling

KENTUCKY RECYCLING BILL BECOMES LAW

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher has signed Senate Bill 50, bipartisan legislation that promotes and facilitates recycling by establishing a grant program, into law. The bill passed both chambers of the General Assembly without a dissenting vote.

SB 50, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly (R-Springfield), would create grants for recycling and for collection of household hazardous waste. The money would come from a portion of the funding currently directed toward cleaning illegal dumps under the Kentucky Pride program.

"From the beginning, it’s been a priority of our administration to work to achieve a healthy environment, which is indispensable to a healthy economy," Fletcher says. "With this legislation, we take another step toward that goal."

The dump cleanup program was established under House Bill 174 of the 2002 General Assembly. It is funded with proceeds of a $25 million bond issue and a fee of $1.75 per ton of waste disposed of at Kentucky landfills. Under SB 50, counties that successfully clean up illegal dumps are eligible to use funding for recycling and collection of household hazardous waste.

LaJuana S. Wilcher, secretary of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (EPPC), says, "This legislation provides an additional incentive for action at the community level."

EPPC’s Division of Waste Management estimates that Kentucky disposes of 566,000 tons of materials with secondary value per year at a cost of $53 million in disposal fees and lost revenue.