Mobile bins make going green easy

Lou Allgayer of Elmwood, Neb., no longer needs to make a 40-mile round trip to Lincoln when he wants to recycle material from his 11 apartment units.

Members of the Cass County Green Team have started placing four large recycling bins on wheels in local cities and towns. The bins are moved after one week, so each one hits four towns a month.

Allgayer used to take his recyclables to Lincoln's Southeast Community College for sorting. The Green Team, a volunteer organization of Cass County elected officials and private citizens, hauls its trailers to Firstar Fiber Corp. in Omaha.

“This is a lot easier for me, with the bin here in Elmwood all week,” Allgayer said. “My old minivan doesn't have a back seat, and there were times going to Lincoln when it would be completely full.”

Nancy Josoff, the county's election commissioner and Green Team member, said the reaction to the bins has been overwhelmingly positive. Fourteen of the 17 Cass County communities have made arrangements to host the trailers.

“There really have been no problems, and people are excited about having the opportunity to recycle,” Josoff said.

The trailers were purchased with a $110,000 grant from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. They were built in Beatrice by Dempster Industries Inc.

Information on when the trailers will visit and what materials are picked up is distributed in each community and available online at www.cassne.org.

“We're getting rid of 99 percent of recyclable material and saving a lot of room in those landfills,” Allgayer said.

Contact the writer:

444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com

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