The Nebraska Remanufacturing Pilot Project LB731 Strengthening the state’s economy and environment one ton of resources at a time

What is the Remanufacturing Pilot Project? An effort to enhance the state’s: Recycling infrastructure Manufacturing capabilities Agricultural productivity How? By providing tax credits for every ton of additional waste (resources) that are recycled or composted Suggested credit: equal to average landfill costs ($26/ton)

Unique Features of the Nebraska Remanufacturing Initiative No need for new sources of money or administrative management Credits given after demonstrated success It strengthens public/private collaborations It achieves economic & ecological goals

Unique feature: No new taxes, management duties Taps relatively small percentages of existing funds and fund management structures DEQ Waste Reduction & Recycling Fund DEQ Litter & Recycling Fund While the bill does not tap the Environmental Trust Fund it does provide DEQ authorization to apply for grant to support LB731

Unique feature: Credits awarded only after success is demonstrated 1. Proposer submits request for a tax credit to the agency based on the number of tons the program is projected to recover. 2. The agency determines it meets the sole criteria, i.e., can the effort reduce wastes through recycling or composting? 3. The proposer whether a plant, processor, farmer, city or hauler, confirms program success (e.g., with a bill of lading) 4. Then (and only then) is the tax credit released.

Unique Feature: It supports collaboration. Resource Recovery only works when all the arrows work together. Success requires: Generators (businesses & municipalities) Processors (businesses, haulers, nonprofits & municipalities) End markets (manufacturers & farmers) All working together to assure program sustainability

Any player in the recycling loop could initiate the process End user (manufacturer or farmer or rancher) Generators (municipality or business) Hauler (municipality or business) Processor (municipality or business) This fosters ingenuity and collaborations that are hard to achieve through grants alone. Unique feature: Flexibility

How might municipalities use credits? Town A lacks a recycling program. It applies for and receives a tax credit for $26,000, based on a yearly projection of recycling 1,000 tons It awards the credit to the company that sets up & achieves its recycling goals Town B composts organics but can’t expand as it lacks outlets for its finished compost. It receives $10,000 of tax credits Credits used to entice local farmers to apply compost; upon realizing its value, they become ongoing customers

Unique feature: Opportunities for creativity, flexibility, major expansions and investments Tax credit could enhance economic & ecological goals Provide larger credits for new instate end markets Reward towns that adopt “pay as you throw” policies Duration of the tax credits could be extended to justify major, capital intensive investments Think Nucor Steel size investments Credits could be shared among key players, e.g., A hauler retrofits his truck to collect glass A quarry mixes glass with gravel to make cement Businesses pave their parking lots with “glassphalt”

Potential credit eligible business investments include: Retooled manufacturing processes to use lower cost recycled materials Equipment installations to recycle the company’s or customers’ materials A resource management program provided by consultants (e.g., nonprofit groups) Community partnerships to establish, enhance residential recycling opportunities

How might ranchers and farmers benefit? By developing the means to accept and incorporate area municipalities’ and businesses’ yard or food wastes in their operations By agreeing to buy composted wastes (thereby providing the incentive to divert up to 15% of the average town’s waste to compost)

How can nonprofits use the credit? Charge companies for waste audits; upon successfully demonstrating waste reduction gains, the business receives the credits Offer municipalities promotional outreach programs to increase diversion rates; provide the credits to enlist media outlets for PSAs or newspaper ads

How LB731 benefits all Nebraska Recycling 1/3 rd more of what Nebraskans bury annually would: Create almost 3,000 jobs Earn businesses & communities > $180 million Lower manufacturing energy costs, reduce pollution However, landfilling these same resources: Uses fewer than 450 jobs Costs on average more than $19M to bury Requires long-term management to mitigate groundwater contamination

Potential annual economic impact Creation of 72 jobs (36 per 10K tons recycled) Infusion of $3 million into the state’s economy (average material value of $150/ton) $2 M savings from avoided waste hauling An infusion of $500,000 into the state’s general fund (10% of what would otherwise be distributed as grants)