For the last three years, the Pulaski County Regional Recycling Center has used a unique model to improve recycling efforts in the surrounding region. Solid Waste Coordinator and Recycling Manager Danny Masten sees recycling as an opportunity to make a difference in the community. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e turning something old and making it into something new,鈥� he said.
Since 2021, Masten has employed the hub and spoke model to better recycling in central and southern Kentucky. 鈥淚t’s not a new model, but it鈥檚 kind of new to the state of Kentucky,鈥� Masten said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a regional recycling program where you have a county that鈥檚 kind of in the center, and it reaches out and assists counties around.鈥�
Acting as the hub, Pulaski County reaches out to the spokes of Russell, Rockcastle, Lincoln, McCreary, and Metcalfe counties. Masten also shared the take in certain recyclable materials from Glasgow, Danville, Harrodsburg, and Wilmore. The joint effort started when smaller recycling centers began struggling after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recycled materials from these smaller centers were undervalued, and some centers even faced closure 鈥淐ompanies weren鈥檛 paying them what the materials were worth because they couldn鈥檛 provide a full load,鈥� Masten explained. 鈥淎 full load of something is worth more than mixing a bunch of materials onto a load, so they couldn鈥檛 provide the full loads to get their full value.”
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