The City of Paducah is asking the public to submit questions and feedback regarding the current curbside recycling program coordinated by the Paducah Public Works Department. This voluntary, single-stream service has been offered to Paducah households since 2018. To provide feedback regarding curbside recycling in Paducah, visit Recycling Survey. This survey will be open through December 15 to gather input. This survey is for all Paducah households regardless of participation in the curbside recycling program. We ask that only one person per household complete the survey.
Mayor George Bray said, “From a young age, we are taught to reduce, reuse, and recycle so that we are good stewards of the environment. I am proud that Paducah offers curbside recycling in a single-stream format which is easy to use at the household level since all accepted items can be placed into the bin together. However, it is obvious that Paducah’s curbside recycling program is not being used to its full potential. Our goal is to increase the number of households using this valuable service, and beginning in July of 2025, there will not be a fee for recycling. It should make this program quite attractive to all residents.”
Mayor Bray added that another goal is to make sure that recyclables taken to the processing facility are not contaminated with items that are not on the accepted list of recyclables.
Director of Public Works Chris Yarber said, “This summer, we visited the sorting and processing facility in Nashville that accepts Paducah’s recyclables. They impressed upon us the benefits of having clean loads. We were proud to learn that Paducah’s contamination rate was one of the lowest as compared to other communities. When a load of recyclables has significant contamination from items that are not accepted such as plastic bags, trash, furniture, clothing, tires, and hoses, it can cause the entire load to be diverted to a landfill since those items could damage the equipment.”
Currently, Paducah has approximately 8420 residential solid waste accounts. However, only 1458 households are using the curbside recycling service.
Communications Manager Pam Spencer said, “I’m looking forward to developing an awareness and educational campaign called Recycle Right Paducah for curbside recycling in Paducah. We want to increase the number of households recycling in Paducah; however, the first steps are to find out what may be preventing a household from recycling and to provide answers to the various questions citizens may have about what can be recycled.”
Paducah’s curbside recycling program includes the collection of recycling containers twice per month for participating Paducah households. Public Works crews take the recyclables to the Green for Life (GRL) transfer station in Littleville, and then they are transported by truck to Waste Management’s (WM) materials recovery facility in Nashville for sorting and processing. Currently, the fee is $1.50 per month for a recycling rollout. In July 2025, there will be no additional fee to Paducah households for recycling.
Visit Curbside Recycling for program details and to sign up for Paducah’s curbside recycling.
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