MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Just three dollars is all you need for a recycled railroad tie. That’s the deal put on by the Blue Grass Army Depot as part of the Qualified Recycling Program at the depot in Madison County.
Inside the fence line at the Blue Grass Army Depot, there are 41 miles of railroad tracks. That means there are a lot of railroad ties to keep up with.
“Many of them are much in need of, you know, wear and tear, deterioration and maintenance,” said Ramesh Melarkode, environmental division chief at the depot.
As sections of ties are removed, the used wood is brought to the Qualified Recycling Program.
“Some small pieces of the sections are still in good shape,” Melarkode said.
The recycling program makes these railroad ties available for people to purchase for just $3 each.
“These can be used in your home for a variety of projects, starting from flowering beds when the springtime comes,” Melarkode said. “That's when we get the most traffic.”
Railroad ties aren’t the only materials being recycled at the depot. There are plenty of other categories, but they’re best summarized as scrap wood and scrap metal.
“The depot receives ammunition, bombs, bullets of all sizes daily,” explained public information officer William Ritter. “All those bombs and bullets come secured in some fashion for shipment.”
“Once those constraints are no longer needed because the shipping has ended, we have leftover material. We use that leftover material here and we work our best to recycle it.”
While the recycling program has been around for a while, Ritter says their most recent Facebook post about railroad ties has reached a record number of people.
“We had not had a sale for railroad ties in quite some time,” Ritter said. “With the spring coming and flower gardens being popular, I think people just wanted to hop on these. Plus, they're an incredibly good deal compared to what you'd pay in the civilian market.”
Some online expressed concern that chemicals like creosote could be contained in the wood, and would leak into the surrounding soil. According to Melarkode, they have made sure the wood is chemical-free.
“We did an analysis of ourselves,” he said. “We took samples and analysis to the lab for that purpose, creosote content, because this is from years old and some of them are worn away. We took some spot samples from various areas and did the lab analysis, and they were non-detects.”
You can learn more about the Qualified Recycling Program and what materials are available by visiting here or by calling the number for the program. In order to get on the Blue Grass Army Depot, you need either a military CAC card or a RealID.
