Lincoln’s holiday recycling surge meets fewer collection sites

The City of Lincoln says although there are fewer recycling sites this year, the remaining locations can still handle the holiday influx.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The holiday season is in full swing, and that means a number of things including packages. With packages comes cardboard and more items to recycle.

“As we come into the winter months, a lot more people are generally working or buying things so we get more packaging that comes in,” says Willa DiCostanzo, the Waste Diversion Coordinator for the City of Lincoln. “December, like last year, we had about 670 tons of recyclables come into our collection sites around the community,” she says.

For the first time since the city announced the consolidation of recycling collection sites, residents have fewer options when it comes to dropping off their recycling items.

In an effort to save money – $2 million annually – the city will be downsizing the number of locations from 19 to four or five. Right now, there are 11 still open as more expanded recycling sites are scoped out.

Residents tell Channel 8’s Marlo Lundak that they have mixed opinions about the changing locations.

“I’m very disappointed and upset, I’ve been recycling for over 40 years, it’s only a mile from my house, so it’s very convenient,” says Carol Muthersbaugh, a resident who frequents the collection site behind Russ’s Market on 33rd and Highway 2.

“Unfortunately with the [new] sites being so far away from me, when you close this, it’s all going in the landfill. And I thought the purpose of recycling was to keep it out of the landfill,” Muthersbaugh says.

It’s a different story, though, for Jim Campbell, who previously used the site at the Gere Library near 56th and Normal. Now he uses one of the permanent expanded locations at Lincoln East High School.

“It isn’t really too bad for us, it’s not as convenient as Gere Library but it’s certainly doable,” Campbell says. “My wife and I feel very much in favor of doing the recycling of cardboard so we’re willing to go where we need to.”

DiCostanzo and the city still encourage residents to take advantage of the recycling service, despite some locations being further away. She also says that information on the city’s plan to consolidate the sites can be found on their website, and DiCostanzo hopes residents will read it and understand why they’ve made that decision.

A map of the remaining, permanent, and future sites can also be found online.

“We really just want people to continue to recycle, it’s really important that we recycle, but we have to do it in a cost-effective manner,” she says.

With the holiday recycling rush, DiCostanzo also pushes the importance of recycling responsibly and correctly – not everything can be recycled.

“Ribbons can’t be recycled, and you’re encouraged to reuse them as much as possible,” she says. Many forget that holiday gift wrap isn’t the same as regular paper.

“Wrapping paper is another question we get during the holiday season, and so it’s important that if you’re using wrapping paper with a lot of glitter or sparkle or jazz involved in it, that cannot be recycled in your normal recycling bin.” Typically, these items should head straight to the trash can.

DiCostanzo says we need to be cognizant of what we throw away. “Everything ends up somewhere,” she says. Oftentimes items like wrapping paper and ribbons and other non-recyclables end up clogging or even shutting down machinery at the recycling sites. This, she says, costs time and money that isn’t necessary.

More information on what can and can’t be recycled can be found on new signage at collection sites, as well as on their website.

and despite the lower number of collection sites, the city encourages residents to continue to recycle to avoid overloading dumps and disrupting trash services.

Due to the changes in collection centers, as well as the pandemic, the city and local trash and recycling collectors say the number of people doing curbside pick-up has greatly increased this year, starting in the summer months.