Nebraska petition drive seeks to put recycling ordinance on ballot

Nebraska petition drive seeks to put recycling ordinance on ballot
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The Nebraska League of Conservation Voters, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, is leading a petition drive to put a recycling ordinance on the May election ballot in the city of Lincoln after efforts to get the city council to pass a similar ordinance failed.  The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the proposed ordinance would ban paper products from the city landfill for three years, helping to double the city’s recycling rate.

“Doubling Lincoln’s recycling rate is as simple as signing your name and volunteering with us,” Chelsea Johnson, deputy director of the Nebraska League of Conservation Voters, told the newspaper.

The group needs to collect 7,760 signatures by the end of January but has established a goal of 12,000 signatures. More than 1,000 signatures have been collected as of Dec. 1, the Lincoln Journal Star reports.

The proposed ordinance is similar to that proposed by Mayor Chris Beutler, tough it does not include penalty provisions, according to the newspaper. It would ban paper from landfills, requiring haulers to separate the materials from the trash or pay for landfill staff to do so. Lincoln residents and businesses would not be fined for failing to remove the material from their trash.

Under the proposed ordinance, the landfill would no longer accept cardboard as of April 1, 2018, and newspapers would be banned as of April 1, 2019. All other paper would be banned beginning April 1, 2020, the Lincoln Journal Star says.

To recycle the banned materials, residents could either take the, to one of the city’s 28 free recycling sites or pay for curbside recycling service.

Lincoln has a population of approximately 277,350 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. 

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Source: Recycling Today
Nebraska petition drive seeks to put recycling ordinance on ballot
<![CDATA[The Nebraska League of Conservation Voters, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, is leading a petition drive to put a recycling ordinance on the May election ballot in the city of Lincoln after efforts to get the city council to pass a similar ordinance failed.  The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the proposed ordinance would ban paper products from the city landfill for three years, helping to double the city’s recycling rate. “Doubling Lincoln’s recycling rate is as simple as signing your name and volunteering with us,” Chelsea Johnson, deputy director of the Nebraska League of Conservation Voters, told the newspaper. The group needs to collect 7,760 signatures by the end of January but has established a goal of 12,000 signatures. More than 1,000 signatures have been collected as of Dec. 1, the Lincoln Journal Star reports. The proposed ordinance is similar to that proposed by Mayor Chris Beutler, tough it does not include penalty provisions, according to the newspaper. It would ban paper from landfills, requiring haulers to separate the materials from the trash or pay for landfill staff to do so. Lincoln residents and businesses would not be fined for failing to remove the material from their trash. Under the…