Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Mike Linder today announced the awarding of $1,366,514 in grants for waste reduction and recycling projects. The grants are available through the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grant Fund. This fund is generated by a fee on solid waste disposed of in landfills (disposal fee), an annual retail business sales fee (business fee), and a fee assessed on the sale of new tires for motor vehicles (tire fee). Tire fee grants totaling $1.93 million for projects related to tire recycling were previously announced in June.

Examples of 2013 grant recipients include:
 

• Community Crops was awarded $10,962 for a pilot composting project. This project will divert food and animal wastes from the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, resulting in the reduction of almost 4,000 pounds of this waste per year going to a landfill. The project will also result in the production of a high value compost end product that will be used at all of the 15 CROPS community garden sites in the City of Lincoln.
• Grand Island Clean Community System was awarded $52,545 to help fund the continued operation of the Betty Curtis Household Hazardous Waste Facility under the direction of the Grand Island Area Clean Community System. This is a regional facility that serves Hall, Hamilton, Howard and Merrick Counties. In addition to household hazardous waste, the facility also accepts batteries, fluorescent bulbs, and electronics. The facility also includes a reusable products area where visitors can take and reuse products that others have dropped off.
• Keep Nebraska Beautiful was awarded $42,767 for the Nebraska School Chemical Cleanout Campaign. This program, conducted by Keep Nebraska Beautiful, will assist 10 Nebraska schools to identify and remove potentially hazardous, toxic, explosive and radioactive chemicals from their facilities. Each of the schools had to conduct a chemical inventory, which most of them have never done before. The identification and removal of these chemicals will reduce health and safety threats to students and staff.
• Red Willow County was awarded $113,373 to fund a permanent facility in McCook that accepts household hazardous waste. This facility offers residents of 45 counties a safe and reliable way to dispose of household hazardous waste along with fluorescent bulbs and electronic waste. The facility has a reuse area and also provides on-site collection events in many communities across the state.

Below is a list of all 2013 grants awarded in the business fee and disposal fee categories:

BUSINESS FEE - $549,524 was awarded to 19 public, private, or non-profit organizations.
 

• Community CROPS, Lincoln, $10,962, to purchase a trailer to collect bedding and vegetable scraps from the Lincoln Children's Zoo and deliver them to a Community CROPS composting facility. The waste will then be set up in windrows for composting.
• Eco Storage Investments, Omaha, $50,000, grinder to process asphalt shingles, pallets and tree debris. The resulting product will be used in various civil engineering applications.
• G7 Innovations, Inc., dba PC Recycling, Omaha, $50,000, for 12 electronics equipment, appliance and battery collection events. Includes processing.
• Goodwill Industries, Inc., Omaha, $42,377, purchase a new semi tractor allowing a "drop and hook" method of utilizing empty trailers at several Goodwill stores for picking up used goods to be reused/recycled.
• Grand Island Area Clean Community System, Grand Island, $52,545, operation of Household Hazardous Waste facility.
• Keep Alliance Beautiful, Alliance, $18,340, purchase two trailers for transporting cardboard.
• Keep Chadron Beautiful, Chadron, $37,212, operating expenses for Keep Chadron Beautiful's cardboard and white office paper recycling program.
• Keep Fremont Beautiful, Fremont, $23,712, host a Household Hazardous Waste collection event in Fremont for citizens of Fremont and Dodge County. In addition, will maintain a collection site for household batteries and CFL recycling.
• Keep Keith County Beautiful, Ogallala, $5,917, host a Household Hazardous Waste collection day for residents of Keith County and the surrounding area.
• Keep Kimball Beautiful, Kimball, $76,674, funds for the maintenance and development of the recycling program for Keep Kimball Beautiful.
• Keep Nebraska Beautiful, Lincoln, $42,767, Nebraska School Chemical Cleanout Campaign assisting ten high schools throughout the state in disposing of old dangerous chemicals from the schools.
• Keep Schuyler Beautiful, Schuyler, $3,500, one electronic waste collection event for City of Schuyler and Colfax County.
• Keep Scottsbluff-Gering Beautiful, Scottsbluff, $25,000, Household Hazardous Waste collection event and Pharmaceutical collection event.
• Nebraska Loess Hills Resource Conservation & Development, Oakland, $14,341, three Household Hazardous Waste collection events held in Blair, Dodge and Pender.
• Nebraska Loess Hills Resource Conservation & Development, Oakland, $3,300, Electronic Waste collection event at Dakota County Fairgrounds for the eight counties in the NE Loess Hills RC&D district.
• Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems, Lyons, $5,802, maintenance and management of a growing organic solid waste stream in NE. Will benefit the Nebraska wine industry by reducing and re-utilizing currently discarded materials and making food, fuel, feed and fertilizer.
• North Central Development Center, Ainsworth, $10,210, funds to become a Keep Nebraska Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful affiliate. Project will serve Brown & Keya Paha Counties to promote awareness of recycling, litter and waste reduction in the area.
• Northeast Nebraska RC&D Council, Inc., Plainview, $13,067, host three Household Hazardous Waste collection events in the Northeast Nebraska RC&D Council's area.
• Union College, Lincoln, $3,204, purchase recycle bins for a campus recycling project and recycling containers for offices.
• WasteCap Nebraska, Lincoln, $60,594, Nebraska Green Business Certification & Training - 2nd year.

DISPOSAL FEE - $816,990 was awarded to 9 counties, municipalities, and agencies. Funding is available to political subdivisions only.
 

• City of Kearney, Kearney, $60,000, to purchase a new 25-cubic-yard-capacity truck for commercial collection and recycling of cardboard.
• City of Lincoln, Lincoln, $76,152, to develop a comprehensive education effort to inform the public on the solid waste management plan and educate the public on changes in the solid waste management system. One of the goals is to increase recycling.
• City of Lincoln, Lincoln, $126,095, to purchase a trommel screen to replace an existing one, to be used for composting lawn/garden waste.
• City of Norfolk, Norfolk, $22,772, to purchase an electronic waste grinder for destruction of PC hard drives and a can crusher for separation of paint products.
• Lexington Area Solid Waste Agency (LASWA), Lexington, $24,171, for seven household hazardous waste collection events over two weekends in the LASWA area.
• Lincoln Public Schools (LPS), Lincoln, $12,515, to fund the LPS Recycling Coordinator and continue and expand recycling education practices at the LPS Schools.
• Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Dept, Lincoln, $60,000, to host eight household hazardous waste collection events and two small business collections.
• Nemaha Natural Resources District, Tecumseh, $122,034, for a three-year household hazardous waste program. There will be nine collection events per year.
• Red Willow County, McCook, $113,373, to hold 45 household hazardous waste collections events and 17 pickup/disposals in Nebraska. Also, funds to purchase a CFL light bulb grinder.
• University of Nebraska - Lincoln (Board of Regents), Lincoln, $199,878, to expand UN-L's Partners in Pollution Prevention program, which allows student interns to provide waste reduction assistance to Nebraska businesses and industries.