Today (as I write for mid-June) is Monday and an opportunity for plenty of dashboard time. After dropping my son off at Bible camp for the week I arrived at the recycling center. The cardboard trailer had been taken back to downtown Hemingford. The 10-container trailer sat in its place on the west side of the center to be processed and join its smaller partner later in the week at the lot behind the former police station.
Throughout the five years I have worked at Keep Alliance Beautiful every other Thursday has been when we pick up recycling in the Hemingford area. That schedule, for the most part, still suffices for the businesses on the list. However, increased usage of the trailers and a strategy to utilize Keep Alliance Beautiful staff and resources as efficiently as possible has often led to trailer trips on alternate days. We have also placed two totes at the lot just west of 618 Box Butte Ave. for the overflow.
Recycling volume has undeniably increased from Hemingford in 2024 though we have not deemed it necessary to quantify the scope of the trend. In addition to public participation, Legacy Cooperative and Mobius Communications have recently joined other businesses – Pat’s Creative, Tabletop Meats, Village Pizza and Dave’s Pharmacy – on the route. Legacy (formerly Farmers Co-op) saves materials at their elevator office. Mobius contacted us about removing three cardboard bales (all weighing more than half a ton) sitting on pallets across the alley from their parking lot, which I brought back to the center recently. A cardboard baler at that site, next to the grocery store, had been an asset to that business and local residents until it broke down leaving several bales. Since the machine will not be repaired and a building will expand on the lot, we worked with Mobius to supply a tote for cardboard/paperboard at Raben’s Market.
Watching an uptick in recycling from our northwest neighbors is exciting. There appears to be a tipping point where residents, businesses and even the Village Board could commit to expanding the three R’s (reduce-reuse-recycle) in a way that fits their community. I will be at the board’s Tuesday, June 18, meeting, starting at 6 p.m., to discuss the potential for recycling in Hemingford, offering KAB’s assistance while exploring the potential for in-kind and volunteer contributions. Anyone who wants to shape the future of recycling in their community should attend to share ideas or at least be more informed about what is available now and what they may see in the months ahead.
Keep Alliance Beautiful adjusts its collection in Hemingford to current requests. When I first went on the route with Bruce we had a tote at a set of apartments on the east side of town and in the alley on the east side of Box Butte Ave. near the American Legion. Spring and summer meant rolling a gob of dozens of empty herbicide jugs tied with twine into the pickup. Trailers were across the street from the school and Catholic Church along Highway 2.
Others have made the 19-mile drive to the recycling center including Hemingford’s public schools and library on numerous occasions in the past five years.
Greater investment in recycling fits the sense of hometown pride evident even to drivers passing through. Residents strive to maintain a beautiful and inviting community year round from the veterans’ memorial to the fair grounds to the parks and avenue of flags in between. Environmental sensitivity shows in the solar farm on the edge of town and even in events like this month’s community garage sale where sellers reduce and buyers reuse. I look forward to hearing how it can be greener on Hemingford’s side of the fence.