County receives household hazardous waste funding

LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Red Willow County has received $113,373 to fund its household hazardous waste facility in McCook.

The permanent facility on the Railroad Service Road in south McCook, offers residents of 45 counties a safe and reliable way to dispose of household hazardous waste, along with fluorescent bulbs and electronic waste.

The facility has a reuse area and also provides on-site collection events in many communities across the state.

The funding is part of $1.3 million in waste reduction and recycling grants, according to Mike Linder, director of the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

They are available through the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grant Fund. This fund is generated by a fee on solid waste disposed of in landfills (disposal fee), an annual retail business sales fee (business fee) and a fee assessed on the sale of new tires for motor vehicles (tire fee). Tire fee grants totaling $1.93 million for projects related to tire recycling were announced in June.

Red Willow County also received $113,373 to conduct 45 household hazardous waste collections events and 17 pickup/disposals in Nebraska, as well as purchase a CFL light bulb grinder.