WasteCap Nebraska Receives Grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust

WasteCap Nebraska has been awarded a grant of $74,854 from the Nebraska Environmental Trust for the "Universal Waste Recycling Outreach Program". The project is one of the 77 projects receiving $14,798,718 in grant awards from the Nebraska Environmental Trust this year.

The project has been designed around recent attempts in Nebraska to pass legislation to manage the electronic waste in the state. This grant will allow WasteCap to meet many of the intended requirements of the legislation.

The main objectives of the grant are to increase electronics recycling awareness, increase access to environmentally safe recycling options, and provide a funding mechanism for local communities to host collection events. These will implemented through the following: developing a statewide educational and marketing program to create a consistent message regarding Nebraska electrons recycling; developing minimum performance standards for electronics recyclers; and administering a small grants program that would give money to local communities wishing to hold electronics collection events.

The intent would be to develop two committees of Nebraska stakeholders. One will assist WasteCap in developing educational and marketing materials for electronics recycling. The second committee would consist of recyclers and regulatory agencies and would be responsible for developing minimum performance standards. These standards would be used in selecting recyclers for collection events and would be shared with the Nebraska business community for their information when soliciting electronic recyclers.

The Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Environmental Trust in 1992. Since its inception, the Trust has provided grants to 1035 projects across that state.