NDEQ Awards $2.62 Million in Waste Reduction and Recycling Grants
Department of Environment and Energy
News Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NDEQ Awards $2.62 Million in Waste Reduction and Recycling Grants
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Jim Macy today announced the awarding of $2,623,217 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 $1.71 million for projects related to tire recycling were previously announced in May (more information).
The table below provides a list, by city, of all 2017 grantees, and includes the amount awarded and a description of the projects receiving grant support.
2017 Waste Reduction and Recycling Grant Award Recipients
| City | Organization | Award Amount | Project Description |
| Chadron | Keep Chadron Beautiful | $46,729 | Funding to collect cardboard and office paper from 50-60 locations in the City of Chadron. |
| Columbus | Keep Columbus Beautiful | $8,025 | Host two electronics collection events for Platte County. |
| Columbus | Keep Columbus Beautiful, Inc. | $19,931 | Host one household hazardous waste collection event for Platte County. |
| Fremont | Keep Fremont Beautiful, Inc. | $36,828 | Host one household hazardous waste collection event for Dodge County, plus two all-metal collections, and an electronics drop site for TVs and neighborhood cardboard recycling sites. |
| Fremont | City of Fremont/Dept. of Utilities | $478,000 | Funds toward a wood/tub grinder for the cities of Fremont and Blair to process trees infected with emerald ash borer. Wood chips to be used for composting, agricultural bedding, and mulch. |
| Grand Island | Grand Island Area Clean Community System | $159,449 | Operational costs for the Betty Curtis Household Hazardous Waste facility and hold collection events in Grand Island. |
| Gretna | City of Gretna | $85,267 | Funds toward a wood chipper, compact track loader, and utility vehicle, to trim trees and process downed limbs in parks and right-of-ways. |
| Holdrege | Educational Service Unit #11 | $11,577 | Funding to clean out chemicals from four high schools in Bertrand, Arapahoe, Minden, and Franklin. |
| Howells | Village of Howells | $9,490 | Funds to crush 2,000 tons of existing concrete piles. Aggregate will be used for road and alley maintenance, athletic field parking lots, and base for training facility for fire department. |
| Kearney | City of Kearney | $145,719 | Horizontal cardboard baler with in-floor conveyor. |
| Kimball | Keep Kimball Beautiful | $16,810 | Funding to collect recyclables from businesses and other locations in Kimball. Also host one household hazardous waste collection event for Kimball County. |
| Lexington | Lexington Area Solid Waste Agency | $34,470 | Host 6-8 household hazardous waste and electronic waste collection events. |
| Lincoln | Nebraska Farmers Union | $21,110 | Equipment and operating expenses for a commercial vermicomposting operation in Lincoln. |
| Lincoln | Lincoln Public Schools | $32,354 | Funds to continue recycling at Lincoln Public Schools, serving over 40,000 students and 8,000 employees. |
| Lincoln | WasteCap Nebraska | $59,834 | Funding to create a hub and spoke pilot project for recycling in northeast Nebraska. |
| Lincoln | Keep Nebraska Beautiful | $73,910 | Fund three state-wide programs: Nebraska Materials Exchange, Nebraska Used Oil Collection, and Nebraska Food Waste Reduction Program |
| Lincoln | Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department | $241,347 | Expenses for household hazardous waste disposal; plus branding and marketing for the new hazardous materials collection center. Hold 3-5 mobile household hazardous waste collections and 4 small business waste collections. |
| Lincoln | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | $99,820 | Funds for student interns to develop on-site technical assistance and education to five Nebraska manufacturers. Anticipate $500,000 annual waste reduction cost savings. |
| McCook | Red Willow County | $214,273 | Hold 50 household hazardous waste collection events and 14 pick-up disposals for various Nebraska communities. |
| Mead | Integrated Recycling LLC | $49,750 | Funds toward a tractor to pull their current compost turner to process cattle manure, organic solids from an anaerobic digester, and yard waste. |
| Oakland | Nebraska Loess Hills RC&D Council | $17,242 | Hold three household hazardous waste collection events in Blair, Hooper, and Walthill. |
| Ogallala | Western Resources Group | $72,837 | Funding to help increase recycling efforts in rural communities. |
| Ogallala | Keep Keith County Beautiful | $6,455 | Host one household hazardous waste collection event for Keith, Arthur, Deuel, and Garden Counties. |
| Omaha | Firstar Fiber, Inc. | $150,000 | Funds toward recycling sorting equipment to increase processing from 30,000 to 50-60,000 tons annually. |
| Omaha | Open Door Mission | $10,000 | Funds toward 200 plastic gaylord containers for use in storing food items and donations. |
| Omaha | City of Omaha -- UnderTheSink Household Hazardous Waste Facility | $331,250 | Funds to operate Omaha's Under the Sink household hazardous waste facility, serving Douglas and Sarpy Counties. (Second year of a five-year grant.) |
| Scottsbluff | Keep Scottsbluff Gering Beautiful | $18,000 | Host one household hazardous waste collection event for Scottsbluff, Terrytown, Gering, and the surrounding area. |
| Valentine | Middle Niobrara NRD | $132,922 | Funds toward a compost turner to mix wood chips and animal manure, food/yard waste, or animal carcasses to study field application rates for best crop yields. |
| Waverly | City of Waverly | $35,000 | Funds toward a brush chipper to turn wood waste into wood chips for landscaping at city parks, the cemetery, and residences in Waverly. |
| Wayne | City of Wayne | $4,818 | Host one electronics collection event for citizens of the City of Wayne. |