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Hang your stockings and set out your blue bins – the Lexington Recycle Center is back open

The Lexington Recycle Center
Clay Wallace
The Lexington Recycle Center

The materials recovery facility sorts and ships recycling from Lexington and the surrounding central Kentucky area, serving Winchester, Shelbyville, Harrodsburg, and more.

The center had been closed since December 4th to replace the baler, which compacts like materials into blocks, and a fabric tent structure, which shelters recyclables from the rain.

Julie Hatter, the plant manager of the facility, had encouraged impacted residents to save their most valuable recyclables – aluminum, steel, and cardboard.

"We're going to get a lot of materials once we reopen, but we're excited to go ahead and get that processed," said Hatter. "We want to take that material because it helps to reduce our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions from material that's going to landfill."

With Christmas and Hanukkah both approaching on the 25th, and Kwanzaa on the 26th, the center is opening just in time to receive your cardboard boxes, gift catalogs, and paper grocery bags. However, not everything can be recycled – and putting non-recyclables in your carts can damage equipment, pose hazards to workers, and contaminate loads of materials which would be recyclable otherwise.

Be sure to put wrapping paper, aluminum foil, and thermal receipt paper in the trash can, not the recycling bin. Electronics like batteries and string lights can be recycled, but not curbside – you can take those to the Electronic Recycling Center at 1306 Versailles Road.

When in doubt, check the full list of materials which can and cannot be recovered through the Lexington Recycle Center.