New program to recycle plastic grocery, retail bags launches in Lexington. How to use it
Lexington’s recycling center can not recycle plastic bags.
But a new project will help Fayette County residents rid their homes of grocery, dry cleaning and other retail bags.
Those bags will be recycled by a company called NexTrex and turned into a bench for a bus stop for Lextran riders.
“This is a great opportunity to recycle items that we can’t take at the Recycle Center,” said Julie Hatter, plant manager for the Lexington Recycle Center. “Plastic bags and film get tangled in our sorting equipment, causing breakdowns and slowing down our recycling process. We also don’t have an outlet for plastic bags, so this is a chance for people to keep them out of the landfill.”
Items that can be dropped off in the NexTrex bins include plastic grocery bags, bread bags, bubble wrap, produce bags and dry cleaning bags. When 1,000 pounds of plastic are collected, the plastic will be sent to NexTrex. All plastic must be clean, dry and free of food residue.
The five locations for bags to be dropped off are:
- Good Foods Co-op, 455 Southland Drive
- LFUCG Government Center, 200 East Main Street
- Lextran, 200 West Loudon Ave.
- Lex Center for Creative Reuse, 110 Luigart Court, Unite 150
- Wild Birds Unlimited, 152 North Locust Hill Drive
For a complete list of items that can be dropped off at the NexTrex bins and a running total of how many pounds have been collected, go to lexingtonky.gov/plasticbagrecycling.
