Trigg County Solid Waste Coordinator Jesse Thomas is awfully proud of the local recycling center, and not just because it has his name forever attached to it.
During a Tuesday update for the Cadiz Rotary Club, Thomas noted the last year has been particularly difficult…of course due to COVID-19, which at times has limited their ability to transport recyclables to both Christian and Lyon counties.
But one thing that didn’t suffer during the summer months of 2020 ended up being his road cleanup crew, in which he referenced eight high school boys who were paid $8.50/hr through state grants.
Thomas said they traversed every road in Trigg County over a two-month period, from the lakes to the Christian County line, from the Caldwell County line to the Tennessee border, and came away with nearly 350 miles of roads swept clean of recyclables like plastic, tires, cardboard and paper.
Thomas specifically referenced three considerable solid waste cleanups that have come in his career — Beech Bend Road off of Rockcastle, the former IGA property in Wallonia and the former Rainbow Restaurant on Rainbow Hill — and that the recycling crew, which reportedly has a good relationship with the local road department, has 11 recycling trailers that bounce around all over the county.
Thomas noted he’s written a lot of letters and knocked on a lot of doors in the community, in order to help maintain clean properties and thoroughfares across the county, and it’s continued to lead to the considerable efforts in recycling steel, aluminum, plastic, glass, cardboard, newspaper and magazines.
Those plastics, which get sorted at the Lyon County low-security facility, include only No. 1 and No. 2 plastics, which typically are water bottles and milk jugs.
One of the more positive notes Thomas delivered was the fact that illegal dumps have been infrequent, if at all, and that’s been a boon for the county.
Another key note for the recycling center is that two of the most sought-after recyclables continue to be steel and computers, with computers being harvested for their precious metals and chip-set components.
Originally sworn in under former Judge-Executive Stan Humphries in 2008, Thomas said solid waste management is a citizen’s right of Trigg County — especially as tourism and relocating families are affected by the cleanliness of community.
The Jesse Thomas Recycling Center is located at 2759 Hopkinsville Road.
