Four months after the ribbon was cut on the Loup Central Landfill Association’s new recycling facility south of Elba, employees say the investment is proving its value by improving safety, increasing recycling efficiency, and helping preserve landfill space for years to come.
The landfill association serves several area counties, including Howard, Sherman, Greeley, Loup, and Garfield, and myriad additional communities throughout the area, such as Palmer in Merrick County.
The roughly four-million- dollar, 12,000- square- foot facility officially opened in February following nearly five years of planning and about eight months of construction. It was supported primarily through a $3.635 million grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, which makes use of Nebraska lottery proceeds to fund projects aimed at conserving and enhancing Nebraska’s natural environments. The aim of the new structure, as Loup Central Landfill Association General Manager Jeff Selden has often emphasized, is to provide employees a controlled environment to sort materials and help extend the life of the landfill’s municipal solid waste cell. In an interview last week, employees working in the facility said those benefits were already being realized.
