By Randy
Bright, BIRP President
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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
By Randy Bright
BIRP
continues to operate for our benefit. We are currently
working with the Solid Waste Division of Natural Resources
Cabinet to promote additional recycling in Kentucky. A new
firm has come to our attention, i.e., Parallel Products.
This Louisville based firm takes in soft drinks, beer, wine,
and spirits that is dated, damaged, or otherwise un-saleable
and converts the products to ethanol and then recycles the
packaging. They accept paper, plastic, aluminum, and
glass. If our business interests will deal with this firm,
we can promote additional recycling which is of interest to
all of us.
We are
staying in touch with our counterparts in our neighbor
states as activity has been intense on bottle bills, bans on
plastic containers of water and such. In addition, several
bottle bill states are expanding their coverage to include
water, flavored water, juices, and teas. We are most
fortunate in Kentucky that we have an aggressive program
providing grants to local governments for clean up of
litter, illegal dumps, and other activities designed to
alleviate the problem of throwaways.
We are
also watching school children’s recycling program. Garrard
County, Kentucky and Fayette County, Kentucky have school
programs where children are encouraged to develop recycling
clubs. Money raised by recycling provides for club
activities. There are 237 schools in the state and we hope
to see this program expand.
Soft drink
bottlers, beer distributors, grocers and others continue to
work to promote recycling. Our industry works with the most
recycled products in the market. Let’s keep up the good
work.
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