For the fourth year, Lexington is competing in the U.S. Mayors’ National City Recycling Challenge’s Cans for Cash contest.
During the month of October, cities will collect aluminum beverage cans for recycling. The “Yes We Can!” contest here is coordinated by The Bluegrass Partnership for a Green Community, which was founded in 2005 by the Urban County Government, Fayette County Public Schools, and the University of Kentucky, with help from Bluegrass PRIDE and other community partners.
Last year over 4 million cans (weighing 133,024 pounds) were collected in Fayette County during the contest.
The US Conference of Mayors presented Lexington with a $5,000 award for winning the Most Innovative Ideas category. This award is given to the community with the most innovative ideas to promote aluminum can recycling during the contest. Lexington competed in the category of cities with a population of 250,000 or more, so we competed against some of the larger cities in the nation. We hope to win again his year!
Recycling conserves natural resources and energy. Recycling 40 cans saves the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline; this means that the energy saved by recycling the four million cans during the 2008 contest is equivalent to 100,000 gallons of gasoline. Nearly $1 billion in recyclable aluminum cans goes into landfills every year, so please do your part by recycling your aluminum cans.
For more information on this year’s contest, contact Tom Webb at (859) 425-2808.
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