The proposed recycling ordinance, with its ban on putting cardboard and paper products into the city landfill, is dead.
But supporters are hoping to revive the original plan by either changing the minds of council members later this year or by putting the issue on the 2017 spring city election ballot.
Earlier this month, Mayor Chris Beutler vetoed a watered-down version of his recycling proposal passed by the Republican majority of the City Council, which had removed the landfill ban on cardboard and paper.
The recycling plan that was passed by the council did include a mandate that private trash haulers offer curbside recycling and report on their recycling efforts to the city.
Lincoln’s garbage collection service is provided by private, independent companies, not by the city or a single company hired by the city.
The council took no action last week to override Beutler’s veto, in effect leaving things with recycling where they started: no landfill ban, no trash hauler mandate, no data requirement.
However, most local haulers will likely continue to offer curbside recycling without any mandate, said Steve Hatten, who owns Paragon Sanitation and is a member of the Lincoln Solid Waste and Recycling Association.
Most businesses have already invested in totes and equipment, and will continue their recycling programs, he said.
Hatten contacted Lincoln’s 32 haulers recently, and 30 of them told him they either offer curbside recycling themselves or subcontract for it. One business doesn’t offer it and one didn’t call him back.
Two state grants — with funding for an education program and for additional containers at the city’s free recycling sites — were tied to the cardboard and paper landfill ban in the proposed recycling ordinance.
The city intended to have an extensive educational effort tied to the landfill ban on cardboard and paper, citing experience elsewhere that shows the combination of education and a mandate dramatically increases recycling rates.
To read the full story, visit http://journalstar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/recycle-ordinance-is-dead-for-now/article_2235ad43-ae47-5386-93d5-1cfc380aae03.html.