| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Recycling III: If not here, where to take it? There are other regional drop-off locations for items like glass and styrofoam, that are not accepted by the Adair County Recycling Center. It is important to recycle long-lasting materials like glass, styrofoam, and plastics, because they take hundreds of years to decompose... By Rebecca Montgomery For a dedicated recycler, items that are not accepted at the Adair County Recycling Center can be taken to other regional recycling facilities instead. Pulaski County accepts glass drop-off at their facility located at 218 KY-80 BUS in Somerset, and Glasgow's landfill at 400 Glen Garry Rd has a recycling center where recyclables, including glass, can be dropped off for free. Clean styrofoam from food packages, egg cartons, and packing peanuts can be taken to a foam drop-off in Horse Cave, at 975 South Dixie Highway (this drop-off is temporarily closed due to the pandemic). For further information, the Pulaski County Solid Waste Center may be reached at (606) 677-0320, and the Glasgow landfill at (270) 678-4302. More details for the foam drop-off in Horse Cave can be found at their website, https://www.homeforfoam.com/foam-recycling-horse-cave-ky . Although our county's recycling program is limited, it is certainly better than a nonexistent one. The program has already been downsized due to lack of funding and public support. A past initiative to collect recycling from local businesses ended after county magistrates terminated funding due to staffing issues and an unresponsive recycling company, and the recycling trailers in the Walmart and IGA parking lots were removed following complaints about their misuse by the public. And with the market for recyclables fluctuating every month, the future for commercial recycling post-COVID-19 is uncertain. As our world's population continues to grow, it is increasingly important that we be conscious of the amount of waste we produce, and where it all goes. "Without recycling your goods, landfills would be completely filled up." Adair County Solid Waste Coordinator Bridget Compton said. She referenced China, a country whose largest landfill reached capacity 20 years earlier than anticipated, leaving the nation in a search for new ways to dispose of its garbage. Although the landfills in the United States still have plenty of space, being conscious of what we contribute to them is one way to exercise good citizenship. Items made of glass and styrofoam take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose. Most plastics never fully decompose and even the time it takes them to break down into smaller pieces is far longer than any of us will live. Recycling is a vital way to limit the amount of waste we leave behind on our planet. "People have gotten kind of lazy." Compton admitted. "We're all busy, we're running, we grab something quick and don't think about where that waste goes." Most of our waste goes to the landfill, where piles of garbage slowly decompose - "slowly," in terms of plastics, glass, and foam products, meaning 400-500 years, at least. When waste is not properly disposed of, it can end up on our roadsides, in our waterways, and interfering with our wildlife. Recent studies examining the fate of small plastic particles, called "microplastics," have found them in remote, uninhabited regions of the Arctic, in our drinking water, in the meat of wild fish, and even in human bloodstreams. Because plastics take centuries to decompose, and they have only been around since 1907, virtually every piece of plastic ever produced still exists in some shape or form. In the United States, only about 34% of our discarded materials are recycled. When compared to other developed nations, this number seems paltry. Germany, for instance, recycles 68% of its waste. Although the recycling rate of the U.S. is growing every year, we are even further behind when it comes to recycling plastics. Only about 3% of our plastic is ever recycled, meaning that 97% of it ends up in the landfills or in the ocean, where it will persist for centuries. The notion of litter and pollution harming the ecosystem is nothing new. From birds and turtles choking on or getting tangled in plastic drink rings to the harmful chemicals some materials emit as they decompose, man-made waste interferes with the environment in a number of negative ways. Aquatic animals mistake plastic for food - so much so, that plastic debris is found in the stomachs of more than 90% of sea birds. When birds and other animals ingest plastics, either by directly confusing them with a food source or by ingesting prey that already has plastic in its system, it can interfere with their digestive systems and the functioning of their internal organs, and release toxic chemicals into their bodies. Even in landfills, plastic is not totally innocent: the chemicals it contains can leach into the land, contaminating groundwater. Polystyrene, the material composing Styrofoam, has similar toxic effects on the environment as it disintegrates. It's easy to buy a bottle of water and throw it in the trash without thinking much about the cost of what we're doing. But, in an age when science is uncovering new information every day and many of us are fortunate enough to have lives consisting of more than sheer survival, it is our duty to consider the repercussions of our actions. How will over-crowded landfills or polluted rivers and oceans affect future generations? What does it mean to throw out a 12-pack of something that will never go away? Out of sight may mean out of mind to us, but somebody, someday, will have to deal with the consequences of our current actions. It is up to us to model to our children, students, neighbors, and friends how to be responsible, caring stewards of our planet, so that there is enough of it to go around for at least a few more generations. The Adair County Recycling Center is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 7:30-3pmCT. Staff are available to unload recyclables while patrons remain in their vehicles. Please rinse, separate, and bag your recyclables, and help take care of our planet. Writer Rebecca Montgomery is a Class of 2020 graduate of Allegheny College with a degree in Environmental Science & Biology. She is a graduate of Adair County High School. Previous article, Part II, printed 6-15-2020 at the following link - Recycling Part II: simple steps make big differences This story was posted on 2020-06-23 06:29:47
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
Governor: New guidance for venues next week Cloudy then clearing today, chance of storms, high 82F 7-County Area Courts for Tue 23 Jun 2020 Public Notice: Fire Dues Primary Election results will be reported differently Are you voting today? Or tomorrow, Election Day? All in a Dream City of Columbia contest - calling for beautiful pictures Alexander, Hall and Sherrell are honored teachers Partly sunny today, chance of rain and storms, high 87F View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
