Omaha recycling contractor receives grant to encourage recycling, warns against doing so improperly

With a new $10,000 grant from the Foodservice Packaging Institute to Omaha’s recycling contractor, First Star Recycling, you might soon see a post on social media or a billboard encouraging the recycling of paper cups.Paper cups, including those from takeout joints, were officially added to the list of recyclables in Omaha on Earth Day this year.But First Star Recycling CEO Patrick Leahy says you need to make sure you’re not mixing in things that can’t be recycled.Before every shift, they clean the sorting machines, but they always end up needing to stop to remove things like plastic bags and garden hoses, Leahy said.In January, Leahy said a battery in the recycling was likely to blame for a fire at First Star Recycling, located at 103rd and I streets.Leahy said he hopes more people in Omaha take up using the Hefty Energy Bag program to recycle hard-to-recycle plastics, especially because it would mean fewer non-recyclables in the recycling. Information on what you can and can’t recycle in the Omaha area is at OmahaRecyclingGuide.org.