The City of Hazard may become host to a curbside recycling program in the near future, said Mayor Nan Gorman.

This decision is in the preliminary stages, and Gorman said the City is working closely with the Perry County Fiscal Court and Judge-Executive Denny Ray Noble to determine whether or not this type of program would be a drain or a boon to the City’s budget.

“This is one of the foremost things we are trying to do,” Gorman said. She added that many people in Hazard are anxious for a better recycling program in the city.

Gorman said she recycles, taking her recyclable items to the current recycling drop-off center in Gorman Hollow. However, she said this center could be very much improved upon and that recycling, which she said isn’t currently encouraged in the community, is something she feels like more people would do if they had better access to facilities.

She said it could also become a money-maker for the City and County, much in the same way it has become so for London. The recycling program there makes the City of London anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 a year, Gorman said, and accepts recycling from surrounding cities like Manchester. She said discussion was being had now to determine whether the City of Hazard should join London’s recycling program, sending the city’s recycling there, or if they should join with the fiscal court and begin their own recycling program here.

Recycling programs in Hazard have been discussed in the past, she said, and they have always been found to lose money for the City.

“The judge (Denny Ray Noble) and I are working together to come to some sort of conclusion,” Gorman said. “He’s very interested in [a recycling program].”

She noted that citizens of Hazard and Perry County are aware of the importance of recycling and said many people are utilizing the current recycling drop-off in Gorman Hollow. However, she said more can be done, noting that the drop-off point does not accept certain items, like cardboard.

“I think it’s terrible that we’re not recycling [like we should],” Gorman said, adding that there is an “island” consisting of various types of plastic estimated to be twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean right now. “This is not something to be taken lightly.”