NDEQ Awards $3.45 Million in Waste Reduction and Recycling Grants
Department of Environment and Energy
News Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NDEQ Awards $3.45 Million in Waste Reduction and Recycling Grants
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Jim Macy today announced the awarding of $3,454,825 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 $2.08 million for projects related to tire recycling were previously announced in April.
The table below provides a list, by city, of all 2016 grantees, and includes the amount awarded and a description of the projects receiving grant support.
2016 Waste Reduction and Recycling Grant Award Recipients
| City | Organization | Award Amount | Application Summary |
| Ceresco | Sid Dillon Ford, Inc. | $7,350 | Purchase a waste oil burner heating system. |
| Chadron | Keep Chadron Beautiful | $42,706 | Expenses to collect cardboard and paper from over 50 locations in Chadron for shipment to market. |
| Columbus | Keep Columbus Beautiful | $12,440 | Host a one-day household hazardous waste collection event for Columbus and Platte County residents. |
| Columbus | Keep Columbus Beautiful | $10,375 | Two computer and electronic collection events for Platte County residents. |
| Falls City | Recycling Center Inc. | $34,750 | Skidsteer for recycling center. |
| Fremont | Keep Fremont Beautiful, Inc. | $36,108 | Host a one-day household hazardous waste event for Fremont and Dodge County. |
| Fremont | City of Fremont/Dept. of Utilities | $407,500 | Funds toward a compost turner to process 4,000 tons of biosolids and 1,800 tons of yard waste annually. |
| Gering | City of Gering | $169,588 | Funds toward a shredder/grinder for use at the City of Gering landfill. |
| Kimball | Keep Kimball Beautiful | $20,850 | Expenses to provide recycling collection services to rural residents and area businesses in Kimball. |
| Lexington | Lexington Area Solid Waste Agency | $31,540 | Host 6-8 household hazardous waste and e-waste collection events in the LASWA service area. |
| Lincoln | Lincoln/Lancaster County Habitat for Humanity | $10,136 | Host a donation event in Lincoln to collect new/gently used furnishings and home improvement products for the Habitat for Humanity's ReStore. |
| Lincoln | Keep Nebraska Beautiful | $53,224 | Fund the Nebraska Materials Exchange Program to find recycling and reuse recipients for products no longer needed by businesses. |
| Lincoln | WasteCap Nebraska | $93,530 | Develop policies and plans to increase waste reduction and resource recovery in Hastings, Broken Bow, and Louisville. |
| Lincoln | Lincoln Public Schools | $31,024 | Recycling containers and expenses to continue recycling at all LPS buildings. |
| Lincoln | Solid Waste Management Division of Public Works and Utilities | $225,000 | Funds to hire a consulting firm to promote waste reduction and increase the amount of material reused and recycled in Lincoln. |
| Lincoln | Solid Waste Management Division Public Works and Utilities | $114,000 | Purchase 17 thirty-cubic-yard containers for recycling at the Lincoln-Lancaster County's 29 drop-off sites. |
| Lincoln | Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department | $175,000 | Host 5-6 household hazardous waste collections and 2 small business waste collections. |
| Lincoln | Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department | $300,000 | Contractual services for the Lincoln Lancaster Co. Health Dept. to site a permanent household hazardous waste facility for Lincoln/Lancaster Co. residents. |
| McCook | Red Willow County | $171,072 | Conduct 47 household hazardous waste collections and 17 pickup/disposals in 23 Nebraska counties. Purchase light bulb/tube crusher and computer to assist with collections. |
| Mexico, MO | Enginuity Worldwide | $250,525 | Feasibility work to produce Enginuity Bio-Coal engineered biomass fuel, and develop new Nebraska-grown renewable bio-based products from agricultural waste materials that will be diverted from landfills. |
| North Platte | Keep North Platte and Lincoln County Beautiful | $13,118 | Pilot project with ABC Recycling to recycle and divert industrial materials from businesses. Year 1 targets: NPPD Gerald Gentleman Station and Great Plains Health. |
| Oakland | Nebraska Loess Hills RC&D Council | $17,320 | Conduct three household hazardous waste collection events in the NE Loess Hills RC&D Council's service area. |
| Oakland | Nebraska Loess Hills RC&D Council | $2,438 | Conduct one electronics waste collection event in Scribner. |
| Ogallala | Western Resources Group | $54,812 | Market development to produce animal bedding made from paperboard and corrugated cardboard. |
| Omaha | Green Recycling Enterprises, LLC | $74,851 | Purchase 45 recycling containers to expand the "Recycle on the Go" program in Lincoln, Elkhorn and Omaha. |
| Omaha | Firstar Fiber | $47,500 | Funds toward a shredder to turn agricultural plastic film (bales, tarps, bags) into industrial grade waxes and additives. |
| Omaha | Scrap Central, Inc. | $350,000 | Funds toward a wire chopper to separate copper from plastic insulation and divert materials from the landfill. |
| Omaha | Goodwill Industries, Inc. | $41,486 | 50% of the cost of a truck to collect end-of-life electronic equipment for recycling. |
| Omaha | Nebraska State Recycling Association | $31,500 | Mini-grant program to pay operational costs of struggling non-profit and municipal recycling programs. |
| Omaha | City of Omaha – “Under The Sink” Household Hazardous Waste Facility | $325,000 | Expenses to operate Omaha's "Under The Sink" regional household hazardous waste facility for Douglas and Sarpy counties. |
| Papillion | Papio Valley Nursery | $75,000 | Funds toward a wood burning boiler system to burn wood chip waste from wholesale nursery operation to heat several greenhouses in winter. |
| Scottsbluff | Keep Scottsbluff Gering Beautiful | $27,676 | Host one household hazardous waste collection event for Scottsbluff, Gering, Terrytown and surrounding area. |
| Sidney | Keep Sidney Beautiful | $5,450 | Host one electronics collection event for Sidney residents. |
| South Sioux City | City of South Sioux City | $12,102 | 50% of the cost of a compost spreader to apply material on public lands. |
| Springfield | Soil Dynamics Composting Farm, Inc. | $25,281 | 50% of the cost of an eco-friendly garbage can wash system/trailer in connection with Louisville Public Schools' organic food waste diversion project "No Waste Zone." |
| Valentine | Middle Niobrara NRD | $150,000 | Purchase a wood chipper and expenses to reduce overgrown Eastern Red Cedar and Ponderosa Pine trees in NRD area. Wood chips to be recycled and sold. |
| Wayne | City of Wayne | $4,573 | Host an electronics waste collection event for residents of the City of Wayne |