Why is Nebraska recycling in the dumps?

[Omaha Steve]

http://dataomaha.com/bigstory/news/why-is-nebraska-recycling-in-the-dumps

By Henry J. Cordes / World-Herald staff writer

With a roar and clatter, the Deffenbaugh waste truck dumps its load of crushed cardboard boxes, soup cans, plastic drink bottles, week-old World-Heralds, beer cans, cereal boxes, milk jugs and soap bottles to the concrete floor of Omaha’s Firstar Fiber.

Don’t call it trash. After the mountains of recyclables picked up in the City of Omaha’s green bin program have been sorted by the machinery and workers at Firstar, they’ll be compacted into bales weighing as much as a Volkswagen and sold for reuse — in some cases, bound for halfway around the world.

“Trust me, no one buys trash,’’ said Firstar CEO Dale Gubbels.

But that’s the way many in Omaha and Nebraska treat such recyclables today. When it comes to recycling, Nebraska is a state with low participation, lagging commitment and no solid plans for improvement.

FULL story at link. The City of Bellevue is the states third largest city. It doesn't offer glass recycling. Marta and I pay for an every other week pickup that includes glass, even though we have to pay for a curb side pick up by a contractor we don't use because of the glass issue.

[hollysmom]

1. I Used To feel pretty good about buying paper towels from a recycling plant less than

10 miles from my house. Their plant had been approved by local environmental groups as not polluting the river. It ws family owned, but someone finally made them an offer they could not refuse. Now it is owned by a big company and they moved the factory to Mexico.
I don't want to by paper towels anymore.