Five Nebraska communities have started down the road to Zero Waste, with the help of WasteCap Nebraska. Imperial, Wayne, Broken Bow, Louisville and Hastings are currently working toward a more sustainable city.

Yard waste ban

In Nebraska, yard waste is banned from landfills, which saves 150,000 tons of yard waste from going to the landfill annually. This yard waste is made into useful compost available to the public.

Get Compost:

Many cities in Nebraska have compost available for their residents as a soil amendment, click on your city or contact your local municipality for more info.

Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, Scottsbluff, Norfolk, North Platte, McCook, Beatrice, Valparaiso, Seward.

Many cities have made commitments to Zero Waste.

Portland, Oregon

Portland is aiming to reach 75% recycling rate citywide. Some of the ways they are getting there include:

• Providing weekly curbside recycling and composting pickup, and every-other-week garbage pickup
• Mandatory paper and containers recycling for all businesses in the city
• Mandatory recycling requirements of 75% of Construction and Demolition debris

Austin, Texas

Austin has committed to reducing the trash sent to their landfill by 90% by 2040. Some of the innovative initiatives they’ve started include:

• ReBlend program, where people donate old paint to be blended and resold as a fresh new quality product
• Anaerobic digestion of their city’s biosolids to compost with yard trimmings.

For more Zero Waste stories from around the world, check Eco-cylce’s series