Lincoln, Nebraska, Republicans approve recycling plan

The Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star reports the Republican majority of the Lincoln City Council approved an altered version of Mayor Chris Beutler’s recycling proposal Monday, Aug. 1, 2016.

The altered proposal still requires waste haulers to offer curbside recycling and to report customer and diversion data to the city. However, it lifts the landfill ban on cardboard and paper. Councilwoman Jane Raybould (D) described the removal of the landfill ban as “emasculate, eviscerate.” 

“It enhances our ability to collect data on recycling,” Councilman Trent Fellers (R), author of the altered proposal, told the newspaper. “I don’t appreciate it as being framed as education only. There is a lot more here than is being portrayed.” 

Raybould argued that removing the ban eliminates the purpose of recycling education, the article says.
“This is pretty much half-baked,” Raybould said, according to the article. “You are not giving them all the tools they need.”

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, Donna Garden, assistant director of Lincoln’s Public Works and Utilities, says Lincoln likely will lose two recycling grants from the state without the ban, one for $114,000 to buy more drop-off containers and $225,000 grant for educational outreach.

Prior to passing the altered version, Council Chairwoman Leirion Gaylor Baird (D) thanked the people who supported the original proposal. 

“That is not what we are passing today,” Baird said, according to the article. “We are passing a much more limited version of Recycle Lincoln. It is a minimal progress and minimal gain. I hope we can get back on track in the future.”