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December 2008 |
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Center provides improved recycling options for area |
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Thursday, 28 August 2008 |
 By MICHELLE ZLOMKE
Chief Managing Editor
Nearly every community in the area is home to a familiar green recycling unit. The large metal receptacles, divided for assorted recyclable items, have permanent places in parking lots and at curbs in 14 Central Nebraska towns, thanks to Custer County Recycling.
That’s a big change from the recycling center’s early years, when director Kelly Flynn rotated a couple of recycling trailers weekly between communities.
“We’ve helped a lot of communities get grants to get trailers,” said Flynn.
And now, instead of hauling each trailer back to the recycling center in Broken Bow for unloading, Flynn can empty each trailer in its location.
There are recycling receptacles in Ansley, Arnold, Arcadia, Ashton, Burwell, Callaway, Comstock, Halsey, Litchfield, Loup City, Sargent, Taylor and Ord. Broken Bow has two receptacles, located in grocery store parking lots.
Flynn said he collects two tons of recyclables each week from the Broken Bow receptacles.
While the recycling center’s funding comes solely from the Custer County budget, Flynn said grants throughout the years have provided equipment for the facility, located west of Broken Bow.
The facility handles plastics, glass, corrugated cardboard, lightweight cardboard, newspaper, mixed paper, white paper, aluminum and tin cans.
Flynn said there are fewer restrictions now regarding the material he can accept at the center. He can now process several grades of plastic without sorting them, and he can accept colored paper, not just white. Cans and bottles can be processed with the paper labels attached.
Newspapers are the easiest to recycle, Flynn said, and make up most of the material he collects.
“Every time you save a ton of newspaper, you save seven trees and seven gallons of water,” he said. “And your paper is your biggest recyclable. Eighty percent of your trash every day is paper.”
Flynn said recycling has definitely increased since the center opened in 1995, reaching its peak during the period when curbside pickup of recyclables was available in Broken Bow.
“In the first 10 years, we had the curbside collection, and that was ideal,” Flynn said.
Still, many people remain dedicated to recycling, even though they have to transport the material themselves, he said.
Many people who recycle understand the economic and environmental impact of recycling waste rather than throwing it away, he said.
“Recycling takes a little work by the people who do it but our cost savings is immense,” Flynn said.
“My goal was to send out load of newspaper and a load of cardboard each month and our recycling is good enough that we’re able to do that,” Flynn said.
Marketing opportunities for recyclables has also increase in the last few years, according to Flynn.
Most glass is ground and then transported to the Custer County Highway Department, which uses it for sandblasting.
Flynn said a manufacturer near Hazard uses recycled plastic to make fence posts.
The global market for recyclables has also increased, Flynn said.
“Recycling adds value to everything we use,” Flynn said. “And it saves on production and energy costs.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 September 2008 )
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Huskers.com
