NDEQ Awards $2.26 Million in Waste Reduction and Recycling Grants
Department of Environment and Energy
News Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NDEQ Awards $2.26 Million in Waste Reduction and Recycling Grants
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Jim Macy today announced the awarding of $2,257,791 in grants through the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grant Fund.
The Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grant Fund is generated by a fee on solid waste disposed of in landfills, an annual retail business sales fee, and a fee assessed on the sale of new tires for motor vehicles. The grants are provided to local integrated waste management projects including: recycling systems, household hazardous waste collection programs, transfer stations, and yard waste composting. Tire fee grants totaling $2.01 million for projects related to tire recycling were previously announced in June.
The table below provides a list, by city, of all 2015 grantees, and includes the amount awarded and a description of the projects receiving grant support.
2015 Waste Reduction and Recycling Grant Award Recipients
| City | Organization | Award Amount | Application Summary |
| Bassett | City of Bassett | $18,150 | Crush 2,000 tons of concrete and reuse the material on local roads. |
| Belvidere | Trailblazer Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) | $8,400 | Conduct an electronics collection event in each of the seven counties in the RC&D area. |
| Chadron | Keep Chadron Beautiful | $40,464 | Maintain office paper and cardboard collection route for businesses in Chadron. They collect approximately 200,000 pounds of material in a year. |
| Columbus | Keep Columbus Beautiful | $12,275 | Host two electronics collection events for Columbus and Platte County. |
| Crawford | City of Crawford | $70,125 | Purchase 125 three-yard recycling containers. |
| Fremont | Keep Fremont Beautiful | $30,000 | Hold a one-day household hazardous waste collection event and public education activities over the course of the year. |
| Fremont | City of Fremont/Department of Utilities | $175,000 | Purchase a compost screener. |
| Grand Island | Grand Island Area Clean Community Systems | $165,000 | Operating funds for the Betty Curtis Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility run by the Grand Island Area Clean Community System. |
| Gretna | Gretna Sanitation, Inc. | $16,000 | Purchase a grapple hook attachment for an existing loader to be used in harvesting organic material. |
| Hebron | Thayer County Road Department | $8,500 | Purchase a used oil furnace. |
| Kearney | Board of Regents University of Nebraska dba UNK | $26,182 | Purchase recycling containers for use of students, staff and visitors to the Kearney campus. |
| Kearney | City of Kearney | $31,254 | Purchase six 28-cubic-yard roll-off containers for recycling. |
| Kimball | Keep Kimball Beautiful | $23,950 | Provide recycling for Kimball residents and businesses. Also hold one electronics collection event for residents. |
| Lexington | Lexington Area Solid Waste Agency | $32,620 | Conduct six to eight collection events over two weekends in the LASWA area. |
| Lincoln | Keep Nebraska Beautiful | $39,222 | Remove toxic chemicals from six high schools in Nebraska. |
| Lincoln | WasteCap Nebraska | $73,068 | Partner with Downtown Lincoln Association to work with bars and restaurants to create a system for collection of recyclables and compostables through cooperative use of collection containers. |
| Lincoln | Keep Nebraska Beautiful | $49,723 | Fund the Materials Exchange Program, which encourages the reuse of goods. |
| Lincoln | Nebraska Pharmacists Association | $120,971 | Statewide effort for the collection of unused medication by using registered pharmacies as disposal points. |
| Lincoln | Midland Recycling | $190,000 | Purchase a single-stream system which includes a pre-sort conveyor, several transfer conveyors, material separator, screens and an in-ground pit. |
| Lincoln | Lincoln Public Schools | $30,214 | Continue and expand established recycling program and add another half-time position. |
| Lincoln | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | $4,819 | Purchase ten recycling dumpsters. |
| Lincoln | Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department | $100,000 | Fund ten household hazardous waste collection events. Home-based household collection service, two latex paint collection events and household hazardous waste education. |
| Lincoln | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | $99,800 | Partners in Pollution Prevention project utilizing the resources and expertise of the NE manufacturing extension partnership to provide individualized source reduction and recycling of large waste streams including hazardous waste through the use of interns at participating Nebraska businesses. |
| Lyman | Village of Lyman, Nebraska | $32,000 | Crush 3,000 tons of concrete for use in city alleys. |
| McCook | Red Willow County | $156,500 | Minimum of 52 household hazardous waste and electronics collection events in central and southwest Nebraska. Operating expenses for the household hazardous waste facility in McCook. |
| Minden | City of Minden | $15,389 | Convert existing street sweeper to a water truck and purchase transfer trailer for hauling water for composting. |
| Oakland | Nebraska Loess Hills RC&D Council | $20,000 | Three household hazardous waste collection events in the Blair, Winnebago and North Bend areas. |
| Oakland | Nebraska Loess Hills RC&D Council | $2,600 | Electronics collection event in Pender. |
| Omaha | weCompost | $24,960 | Diesel truck with hydraulic lift and rotary in-vessel composter to divert and process food waste in Omaha. |
| Omaha | City of Omaha -- UnderTheSink HHW Facility | $350,000 | Operating expenses for "Under The Sink" household hazardous waste facility in Omaha. |
| Schuyler | Colfax County Highway Department | $76,320 | Purchase mulcher and skid loader for use in cleaning vegetation from roadside ditches. Mulch will be available at no cost to citizens. |
| Scottsbluff | City of Scottsbluff | $100,000 | Purchase trommel screen and loader to create mulch that will be used by the city and the general public. |
| Sidney | Keep Sidney Beautiful | $5,600 | One electronics collection event for residents of Sidney. |
| South Sioux City | City of South Sioux City | $90,575 | Purchase and install wood chipper and wood waste burner to produce energy for a city-owned campground. |
| Verdigre | Village of Verdigre | $13,695 | Funding for the village recycling program and the purchase of two recycling dumpsters and a used pickup truck. |
| Wayne | City of Wayne | $4,415 | Hold an electronics collection event |