Perry County expands bulky trash, e-waste and recycling drop-offs

Perry County has turned bulky trash and recycling into a weekday service instead of a once-a-year scramble. At the Perry County Garage in Christopher, residents can drop off oversized waste, old electronics and common recyclables at named sites with set hours, which cuts down on missed pickups, illegal dumping and wasted trips.

Bulky trash now goes to the county garage

For items too large for sanitation routes, Perry County’s solid-waste page directs residents to the Perry County Garage for weekday drop-offs. The county says the service is free for people inside or outside city limits as long as they show proof of paid garbage service, which makes the garage the main answer for the bulky items that do not fit ordinary collection.

That matters because the county has replaced the old spring cleanup model with a steadier system residents can use during the week. If you have a load that will not fit in your regular trash cart, the garage is the place the county has put in writing, and the proof-of-service rule is the key that unlocks the free drop-off.

E-waste goes to Christopher Monday through Friday

The same garage also takes electronic waste, and the hours are different from the recycling drop-off center. The e-waste site is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the county says it accepts old computers, TVs, microwaves, stoves and anything that has or once had a cord.

That broad definition is useful for households clearing out storage rooms, basements and garages. It also keeps common electronics out of the trash stream, which is especially important for items that can be difficult or costly to dispose of elsewhere.

What the recycling drop-off center takes

The recycling drop-off center at the Perry County Garage is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The county says it accepts three basic categories: plastics marked with code 1 or 2, aluminum and cardboard.

That means the clean, sortable household recyclables residents handle most often have a local destination, not just a theory about recycling. Cardboard from deliveries, aluminum cans and the most common plastic containers can all go through the county system if they meet the code requirement.

For quick sorting, the county’s rules point to a simple first check:

• Plastic marked code 1 or 2 goes to the recycling drop-off center or trailer network.

• Aluminum goes to the recycling system.

• Cardboard goes to the recycling drop-off center or trailers.

• Electronics, from computers to microwaves, go to the e-waste center.

• Large trash that does not fit the route goes to the bulky-waste drop-off, with proof of paid garbage service.

Where the recycling trailers are stationed

Perry County has also spread recycling access beyond the garage through a network of mobile trailers. The county lists permanent trailer locations at Viper Park-and-Ride, Haven King’s old truck lot in Chavies, Vicco City Water and Perry County Park, plus an additional trailer at the National Guard Armory for public use.

That layout gives residents options across the county instead of forcing every load through one facility in Christopher. It also reflects a longer rollout that included school-based outreach, with county materials saying officials once hoped to have a trailer at each school by the end of the 2019 school year.

The county’s public rollout also had a visible public face in 2019, when the new recycling drop-off center opened with trailers at Perry County Park, Viper Park-and-Ride, Vicco City Water and Haven King’s old truck lot in Chavies, among other sites. The result is a county system built around familiar local landmarks rather than a single distant landfill run.

Why the county says recycling matters

County officials have tied the program to practical savings. Perry County says recycling saves landfill space, conserves resources and saves energy. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet makes the same basic case, saying recycling uses far less energy and fewer natural resources than making products from raw materials, and that manufacturing with recycled aluminum cans uses 95 percent less energy than making them from virgin materials.

That is part of the reason Perry County focuses so heavily on aluminum, cardboard and common plastic codes 1 and 2. Those are the materials most residents generate regularly, and they are the easiest to route into a system that reduces what ends up in the landfill.

How the program is organized

The county’s recycling and waste system sits inside a formal planning framework. Perry County’s public notices page links a Solid Waste Plan 2017 to 2022 document, and the county’s ordinance page says counties may regulate the storage, collection, transportation, processing and disposal of solid waste by ordinance or contract.

That matters because it shows the program is not an ad hoc cleanup effort. It is a county service, run through the Perry County Fiscal Court and the solid-waste structure that goes with it. Scott Alexander is the county judge executive named on the county’s recycling and executive-office pages.

The county also says grant funding helped buy 31 mobile recycling units, 31 cardboard recyclers and 10 mesh trailers, while also creating the recycling center at the county garage. That investment explains how the network grew from a single service point into the system residents now use across several communities.

One more local option in Hazard

Residents who need another nearby place to recycle can also look to Hazard’s city facility, which Perry County lists on its own service-provider page. The City of Hazard Maintenance Garage and Recycling Facility on Gorman Hollow Road accepts glass, mixed paper, cardboard, aluminum, plastics and other materials.

For Perry County households, the practical takeaway is straightforward: take bulky waste to the garage, bring electronics to Christopher during the weekday window, sort cardboard and container recycling by the county’s code rules, and use the trailer network when it is closer than the garage. The system is built to keep usable material moving and illegal dumping from becoming the easiest option.