Class Day 5

Field Trip:

LFUCG Recycling Center
360 Thompson Road
Lexington, KY 40508

When you come up to the main office entrance space to your left is gravel like pieces, but it's glass shards.  They took the glass that they get, which gets broken down through the sorting process (which is what they want to happen) and put it in as gravel like material.  It added a great effect to the whole exterior of the space.  The vibrant color gave it a different appeal.

From there we went up to the classroom to talk about things.  This was the view that we had of the center.  It's a pretty powerful image.

Our tour guides were Esther and an intern.  We were given time to ask questions and for her to discuss certain aspects with us.  The taxes that home owners in the Lexington area pay cover the three cans they are allowed to have.  One is trash, one is recycling, and the last is yard waste.  Just recently they have begun a composting can that is for personal use, and can only be given after the resident has taken a composting class.  This insures that they know what they are doing is right.  The yard waste isn't composted, but it shredded down into mulch that everyone can use.  This center also gets materials in from other Lexington counties outside Fayette.  Also, individual companies that collect recycling bring their materials to this center.  So this center is bringing in a lot of materials.  Recently $3.5 million was spent on new machines that help to make the sorting easier and more accurate.  The center accepts bottles and jugs that are type one or two plastic, and many other material types.  They try to also save on gas by finding local companies that will take the materials they receive once it has been sorted and bundled.  In 2009, the center took in 20,000 tons of materials, and had a revenue of $1.6 million.  In 2010, the center took in 25,000 tons, and made a profit of $2.4 million.  This is much larger than the previous year.  So they are becoming more efficient in what they do.  This is a good sign.  Only 5% of the materials they get in actually gets sent to the landfill because it can't be recycled.  

To enter the inter workings of the center you have to wear the proper gear, which includes hard hat, safety goggles, and a vest.  I'm glad it's required because during the tour I was almost hit by a bottle that fell down.  Yet, oddly most of the workers that sort weren't wearing any of this gear.

This is the exterior of the center.  It looks so clean.

Out front they have blue bins that allow people that don't have recycling cans to bring their things in to recycle.  Also there is another bin that metal items can be thrown into, which becomes scrap to another company to use.

I guess that Xbox's are now out of style because we found one laying in the metal scrap pile.

So this hill of material is not even a full days worth of material!!!!

Here is more of a scale to get an idea.  They just kept adding on to it throughout the day.

Sights like this are seen throughout the center.  This could have been someone's dinner.  Here's the left overs...enjoy!

The backside of the mound.  It looks climb-able.

So they take that mound and scoop it into this, which starts the conveyer belt system.

For all you cat lovers...try to reuse your cat litter containers because those can't be recycled.  Instead, they are just stacked under the stairs here until a purpose can be found for them.

Here is the bulldozer scooping the materials into the conveyer belt system.  And so it begins...

The machines in their various colors.

From the start you can view the end result.  This belt has material of the same type throw on to it.  Then the material is dumped into the compresser, and is made into blocks that are tied off.  It's very high tech.  Because different materials require different ties.

Here a magnet separates the metals out from the other things.

Up to be sorted.

People sort out the plastic items from the belt.

The end result is these box like items that can then be shipped out to various companies that will recycle them.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this trip.  Won't lie though...I did feel very dirty afterwards.  I didn't think recycling could be such a dirty job.  I did learn a lot of things that I didn't know before.  So my knowledge has grown!!!