Perry County
2231 St. Route 13 , New Lexington, Ohio, United States

The Perry County Waste Reduction & Recycling office is located at 2231 State Route 13 in New Lexington, beside the PerCo Recycling Center. Matt Reed serves as director of the program. Other employees include Mike Phillips, litter crew supervisor; and Katrina Carpenter, education specialist. Brannon Alkire serves as our Perry County Environmental Officer.

Our Mission is to educate the public about issues related to recycling, solid waste reduction methods, littering and illegal dumping; as well as encouraging people to take pride in their communities by becoming involved in clean-ups and recycling, increasing the quality of life for residents of all ages and generations to come.

Services
The mission of this program is to improve the overall understanding of reducing the amount of waste we generate in our community. We strive to encourage recycling and composting, as well as reduce littering and encourage community clean-up events.

History and Goals
The Perry County program was established by Jim Hart, the first program director, in 1990. Over the years, all activities have been funded through grants which were brought into the county from the Coshocton-Fairfield-Licking-Perry Solid Waste District (CFLP) and ODNR, Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention.Since the beginning, efforts to change the way people think about trash and litter have been focused in several directions: educating people about various issues, enforcing litter and illegal dumping laws, maintaining a crew to address illegal dumpsites around the county, and providing alternatives to old habits of disposal.

Recycling In Perry County

Drop-Off Locations located throughout Perry County! Village of Somerset has curbside recycling.Note: Please take large quantities of any materials directly to PerCo to keep from overwhelming drop-off sites!
PerCo Recycling Center is located south of ODOT, St Rt 13, New Lexington.Call 740-342-5156 or go to www.percoinc.orgMaterials placed in these trailers or buildings are taken to PerCo Recycling Facility. Once at PerCo, recyclable items are sorted, compressed into bales and sent on to be re-made into new products!!!

WHAT CAN WE RECYCLE IN PERRY COUNTY?

• Glass: Clear & Brown beverage bottles Remove all plastic/metal lids and rings.
• Plastics: Milk jugs, pop bottles & other containers with #1 or #2 in recycling triangle near the bottom of container *Remove all plastic/metal lids and rings.
• Aluminum Cans: Flattening saves space...for you and PerCo
• Steel Food Cans:All “tin” and steel food cans are accepted .Again flattening saves space!
• Newspapers, Magazines and Catalogs:Newspapers may be bagged or thrown in loose.Slick, glossy magazines and catalogs are also accepted. Bag glossy separately from non-glossy papers
• Corrugated Cardboard and Pasteboard: All corrugated boxes. Please flatten boxes to save space! Includes cereal boxes, pop boxes and other thin pasteboard materials.

WHAT WE DO NOT TAKE AT THE DROP-OFF BINS...AND WHY

• Light bulbs, window glass! All glass is not created equal! The glass in these items is not something you want mixed into new glass bottles!
• #3-#7 Plastics, plastic toys, etc…other than beverage containers with # 1 or #2 on them!
• PAINT-buy what you need, use what you buy, donate what is left! As a last resort, dry it up until -completely hard and dispose of with trash (leave lids off so trash hauler knows it is not liquid!)
• Motor Oil is accepted at our Ultimate Recycling Days. Dates vary, but we try to organize two in the spring and two in the fall. Call our office for other options that may be available.
  Hazardous household chemicals can be taken to Environmental Enterprises Inc. in Columbus. Call our office for more information 740-342-7881.

Volunteers clean up

Volunteers cleaning up an illegal dumpsite filled this 30 yard open dumpster that was donated for the day by Waste Management. This site included bags, upon bags of household garbage, furniture, carpet, and construction materials.
In the inset photo, volunteers picked up over 200 tires that had been illegally dumped.Several illegal dumpsites in Perry County on the Wayne National Forest were cleaned up on Sept. 7 thanks to more than 30 volunteers who were on the job early near Shawnee off Dutch Ridge Road on Twp. Road 247.
The volunteers worked four hours and collected over 200 scrap tires off the National Forest. With the help of a Monday Creek Township backhoe and operator, the volunteers managed to fill a 30 yard open dumpster donated by Waste Management out of Perry County. The illegal dumpsite included bags of household garbage, furniture, carpet and construction materials (roofing shingles).
Organizers say they made a big impact, but will plan further cleanups in this part of Perry County. The public is urged to call authorities if they see anyone dumping in the area.The public is reminded that Illegal dumping is an environmental crime. Dumping tires is a felony offense in Ohio. Dumpsites with scrap tires provide an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. Severe illnesses have been attributed to disease-carrying mosquitoes originating from scrap tire piles.This volunteer event was held in partnership with Perry County Waste Reduction & Recycling, Perry County Juvenile Court, Rural Action and the Appalachia Ohio Zero Waste Initiative, Wayne National Forest, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Monday Creek Township, Perry County Engineer, and Keep Southeast Ohio Beautiful.