Americans are no strangers to larger than life numbers, just ask the recent winner of a more than $1 billion lottery jackpot in California. At Keep Alliance Beautiful we’ve known a million pounds is possible since third quarter volumes topped 200,000 pounds of material recycled in the third quarter of 2021. The final load that left the building this past month put KAB at a record 915,284 pounds for 2024. Less than a ton a week (1,630 pounds) and that million mark is in the bag!
Our most recent annual numbers show a second significant increase – a testament to our amazing employees and volunteers at KAB and dedicated recyclers in Box Butte County, the Panhandle and western Sandhills. Without an increase in manpower or equipment (two pickups, two forklifts and three balers) at the center our numbers jumped nearly 72.5 tons in two years. For 2024, KAB processed and shipped 65,990 pounds more than the previous year’s total of 849, 294. In turn, 2023 saw an even greater increase with 78,869 pounds more than what our recyclers contributed in 2022 (770,425 pounds).
What do all these numbers mean? In short, people and the places they spend their time (work, school, church) are increasingly seeing the value of recycling within the spectrum of waste management. Regular drive up customers often ask what else they can recycle. I may reply “no” to a query occasionally, but, for the most part the answer is “yes” and we see glass bottles, for example, in the trunk the next time. The two communities we serve outside the city limits – Hemingford and Chadron – have also grown in their respective tonnage in 2024.
What area residents and businesses recycle most is obvious to anyone who has visited the recycling center during business hours. Two of the machines keep in shape squeezing cardboard and fiberboard, popping out as many as five 850-1,000-pound bales a day. For the past six quarters cardboard and fiberboard have been combined and listed as cardboard in our volumes records. We sent out 544,865 pounds this past year, nearly 27 tons more than 2023, and 57.5 tons more than 2022. Though KAB has not added anything significant to process cardboard in the building, our storage capacity has increased with a horse trailer to supplement the green trailer for cardboard on the lot along Second Street and a two-axle flatbed trailer to serve one of our most prolific commercial customers.
Other categories compared to 2023 (listed in pounds): Steel/tin cans 31,867 (+7,621), #1-7 Plastic 47,355 (-2,621), Mixed paper 134,411 (+11,948), Milk Jugs 19,605 (N/A, 14,030 in 2022), Aluminum cans 12,340 (-876), Ink Cartridges unavailable/est. +/- 200 (410 shipped in ‘23), Electronics 25,296 (+5,224), Other 8,999 (+7,517), Glass 69,651 (-14,556), Hefty bags 19,146 (+3,814), Paint 1,047 (-2,144), and Car parts 702 (-98).
Thank you to everyone who recycled with KAB in 2024! Let’s pass the million-pound threshold during 2025!