HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – On Aug. 5, councilmembers approved the first reading of an ordinance that would repeal curbside recycling services in Hopkinsville. The Hopkinsville Solid Waste Enterprise Board previously requested that the recycling program should be terminated due to low participation and financial losses.
The recycling program was established in the city in 2012 through an ordinance, with voluntary citizen participation. Information presented at a Hopkinsville Committee of the Whole meeting on July 17 revealed that only 9% of eligible residents currently utilize the recycling service. They have nearly 12,000 customers, with only 1,000 of them recycling. On the commercial side, 890 businesses receive trash service and 159 of them recycle.
Due to these low numbers, HSWE has accumulated over $2.3 million in losses to date by continuing the service. Wendell Lynch, who is on the board, attributed the failing program as being a significant contributor to the decrease in department’s reserve funds. Since its establishment, HSWE has not received supplemental funding for this additional service. City Administrator Troy Body also shared that the city used to sell their recycling to countries in Asia, but now the majority of the materials gathered end up in landfills.
Before heading to council for a vote, HSWE proposed a few options moving forward. This included the city taking over and funding the service, outsourcing the service to a third party, making the service mandatory and increasing the cost to cover expenses, or just shutting it down. They decided that dissolving the service would be in their best interested, and it went to a vote on Aug. 5.
The first reading passed with a unanimous vote by present councilmembers. If the ordinance passes a second reading at the Aug. 19 meeting, this will completely eliminate curbside recycling, effective Sept. 30.
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