Feb 19

Written by: ngreditor
2/19/2008 8:17 PM 

City Council discusses recycling program

Kenneth Purscell

The Newman Grove City Council heard and discussed a proposal for a recycling program for the community. “I honestly think it's time to do it,” said Les Nienaber of Bud's Sanitation, which currently handles garbage pickup in Newman Grove.

The proposal came during open forum time at the February 14 meeting. Nienaber presented a project that would work with Firstar Fiber, a recycling company operating out of Omaha. The company accepts several different kinds of materials, but, as Nienaber pointed out, “They are capable of taking commingled material. They would do the sorting, not our residents.”

Under this concept, residents would need only two different kinds of containers, one for regular garbage, the other for all the material for recycling.

According to Firstar Fiber's website, “This added convenience for residents and employees increases participation and capture rates.” This results in lower disposal costs for the community.

“Right now about 50% of our waste is recyclable,” said Nienaber. “All I'm doing is getting paid to pick it up and put it in a hole. If we can do something else with it, we�d save money in maintaining that hole.”

The city currently has recycling bins for paper collection at various places in downtown.

An additional possibility is an incentive program similar to Recycle Bank. Under this plan, residents using tagged containers for recycling could receive coupons which could be used for local trade. “I really don't see a downside to it,” said Nienaber.

Some members of the Council could. In particular, the suggestion that recycling pickup be mandatory in the city faced resistance. “We just recently made garbage pickup mandatory,” said Council member Milan Sawyer. “We still get complaints about that.” “I'm not certain what we could do to enforce such a requirement,” said member Mike Gearhart.

But perhaps the greatest doubts were expressed over the suggestion that Bud's Sanitation would continue to make one pickup each week, alternating between garbage one week and the recycling canisters the next. “Two weeks between garbage collections?” asked Mayor David Johnson. “Won't that be smelly?”

Nienaber said, “No,” but Sawyer replied, “Yes it will, especially in the summer.” Nienaber answered that the alternating cycle would allow him to keep from raising waste pickup rates within the city.

Firstar Fiber is offering a tour of their facility on March 4. Nienaber and some members of the Council will attend. No further decisions were reached.

In other business:

• Tom Haase was approved as Fire Chief, Dan Morris on Rescue, and Dave Walahoski was approved as member of the Library Board.
• Liquor licenses were approved without objection for the bowling alley, White Star and the Grove.
• 1- and 6-year plans for roads were approved.

Charges for new water service were discussed once again. Jerry Sawyer, utility superintendent, estimated that a new service tapping into the water main currently costs the city “about $500, depending on whether we have to bore to the other side of the street. The tap alone costs about $100.” He said that there have been about five new taps this year. “That could have been $2,500 that we recovered,” he said.

No action was taken on this, nor on any previous suggestion to raise water service deposits for all new customers.