On Dec. 9, the city of Perryville posted on its Facebook page a letter from Angela Muncy, director of Boyle County Solid Waste Management, saying starting Dec. 10, the department would no longer pick up curbside recycling in the city of Perryville.

“I appreciate the efforts you are putting into recycling but we just do not have the resources to continue curbside,” the letter from Muncy reads.

Muncy said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, inmates can no longer help the department with their services.

“We based a whole lot of our things on the inmates’ ability to assist in recycling here and everywhere else,” she said.

There is also a general lack of “manpower” within the department, as she said only three people work at the recycling center.

Muncy said the service from the department in Perryville was “just a courtesy anyway” and wasn’t under contract. She also said only about 25 people in the area were recycling. The halt on curbside recycling in Perryville is for the forseeable future, as Muncy does not currently know whether or not it will resume, and when.

In place of doing curbside recycling, Muncy wrote in the letter that people can take recycling to the Perryville Convenience Center or take it to the Boyle County Recycle Center on the bypass in Danville.

The Advocate-Messenger attempted to contact multiple city officials for comment. Councilman Chad Blackwell said he is disappointed the service isn’t “available as before.” It used to be picked up once a month, and the service was worked out with the previous mayor. A city maintenance employee, who Blackwell said has been working during the pandemic, along with county inmates helped to provide the service, Blackwell said.

“I just don’t have the manpower to continue,” Muncy said. “With the COVID thing, no inmates, no anybody — we just don’t have the manpower to go down there.”