Mona Anderson
Keep North Platte and Lincoln County Beautiful
With the change of a new recycling contract for the City of North Platte, comes expanded recycling. Previously, the drop off recycling bins would only accept #1 and #2 plastics. This has changed to accepting #1-#7 plastics. Western Resources Group in Ogallala received the contract for recycling paper, tin and plastic from the City. They ship their recycling to FirstStar Fiber in Omaha, which accepts these expanded plastics.
The only plastics that are still not accepted in the bins include soft pliable plastics such as chip bags, candy wrappers, plastic sacks and Styrofoam. A program to accept these items might not be too far in the future through a hard to recycle plastics program. But for now, most other plastics are accepted.
There are a few rules. When plastic bottles are recycled, the best way to throw them in the bin is for the lid to be loosened enough so that they can be crushed in a bail. If the bottle is unable to leak air, the bail cannot be crushed. When in doubt, toss the lid. Lids can be recycled, but a lot of small lids off their bottles will fall out of the bail and onto the recycling center floor.
Signs for the bins will be updated soon to reflect this change. You can find a drop off recycling bin closest to you. Drop off sites are available 24/7 and are located at:
Adams Middle School – 1200 McDonald
Front Street – North of Pizza Ranch
First Christian Church – 220 North Vine
Senior Center – 900 East 10th Street
MPCC, south campus – 601 West State Farm Road
Big Red Liquor, Barn Store – 2500 West Front St.
Gary’s Super Foods – 1620 East 4th Street
List of acceptable items: paper
magazines
newsprint
aluminum (donate to Cans for Critters too)
steel(tin cans) rinsed out
labels are okay*#1 - #7 plastics - no soft pliable plastic (look on bottom of container for number)
breakdown cardboard
NO liquids