Campbell County has multiple programs, including cleanup days, hazardous waste collections, and recycling programs throughout the year that help to divert trash from landfills.
Campbell County Solid Waste Coordinator Megan Clere gave the annual solid waste report on Wednesday night at the Campbell County Fiscal Court meeting, highlighting how much trash was recycled in the county last year.
The county holds two cleanup days each year, once in the spring and fall, and last year the county saw 546.78 tons of trash, 75.58 tons of tires, and 135.35 tons of electronics and scrap metals recycled from the events. Further, collection events are held with Kenton and Boone counties for household hazardous waste. The collection totaled 143.63 tons of items across the three counties, including paint, adhesives, and electronics. 383 Campbell County residents participated in the event.
After the holiday season, the county offers collection events to recycle Christmas trees and lights. There were 231 Christmas trees recycled and placed in Beaver Lake in Anderson County to improve fish habitat. The county also increased drop-off locations for the holiday light recycling program from two to six and saw 760 pounds of lights recycled.
Individual efforts from the county maintenance department and detention center collected 38,840 pounds of trash across 285 cleanups across Campbell County. Clere said they spent over 2,000 hours cleaning up 271 miles of the county’s roadsides.
“In addition, they also collected almost 300 illegally dumped tires and 472 large items which could be a mattress, car parts, and anything in between,” Clere said.
The county’s solid waste department, maintenance, detention center, and trash for cash groups combined collected 56,720 pounds of trash last year.
“The total was 448 roadside miles that were cleaned out of our 701 miles,” Clere said. “So that’s about 64% of our roads cleaned through all of our efforts last year.”
The county also updated its drop-off recycling program last year to help residents easily recycle materials. There are six locations across the county, the animal shelter, Morscher Park, and Southern Campbell Fire Department, including three new sites at the county clerk’s office, senior center, and Pendery Park, added in August of last year.
One location, at the TANK lot in Alexandria, was removed last summer due to illegal dumping. Items accepted at drop-off locations include paper, plastics, metal cans, cups (non-hazardous), glass bottles, jars, and cartons (with caps and straws removed.)
Two events are coming up later in the month to help continue recycling efforts and trash removal in the county. On Saturday, April 22, the “River Sweep” event will take place at General James Taylor Park in Newport from 10 a.m. to noon to pick up trash along the Ohio River. The next county spring cleanup days will be April 28 and 29. More information on the event can be found here.
