Kentucky Governor Announces $10.3 million in grants for waste and recycling projects

73 Projects across the state will benefit from the funding

 (Story Courtesy of Kentucky Today)

FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – Gov. Andy Beshear has announced a series of grants to local governments and universities for projects totaling more than $10.3 million for projects that include recycling, rubber modified asphalt and rubber mulch.

The largest amount, $9 million in grants, has been awarded to Kentucky cities, fiscal courts and universities, for 73 projects across the state to expand recycling, reduce the amount of solid waste going into landfills and improve the handling of household hazardous waste.   

This program awarded three categories of grants: 

--There are 29 recycling grants providing funds for counties to purchase recycling equipment with the goal of promoting sustainable regional recycling infrastructure. 

--There are 15 composting grants to purchase equipment to improve composting and to promote creative solutions for managing food waste, lawn waste and other organic material.  

--There are 29 household hazardous waste grants for counties to conduct annual drop-off events for citizens to dispose of household chemicals, old electronics and other potentially hazardous wastes. 

“Kentucky is fortunate that so many municipalities are stepping up to reuse and recycle to reduce the amount of solid waste piling up in our landfills,” Gov. Beshear said. “This shows care for the environment and for each other.” 

In another grant program, nearly $850,000 will be awarded to 23 counties for projects using recycled rubber. Projects range from park benches, picnic tables, landscaping, parking curbs, poured-in-place surfacing projects for walking trails, poured-in-place running track and poured-in-place playgrounds that use recycled waste tires.  

The grants are from the Waste Tire Trust Fund, established by the 1998 General Assembly, which receives $2 from the retail sale of each new tire in the state. The fund helps manage the approximately 5 million scrap tires generated in Kentucky each year and promotes the development of markets for recycled tire products. 

The third grant program is awarding over $500,000 to four counties for rubber-modified asphalt projects using waste tires. 

The grant funding will be used for the application of asphalt overlay to county roads. Thin asphalt overlays using rubber-modified asphalt have been shown to reduce noise, are more resistant to cracking and rutting, and increase the life of the roadway by 7 to 10 years. 

This program is also funded from the Waste Tire Trust Fund.