140 likes | 261 Views
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
E N D
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 While the bill does not tap the Environmental Trust Fund it does provide DEQ authorization to apply for grant to support LB731 DEQ Litter & Recycling Fund
Unique feature: Credits awarded only after success is demonstrated • Proposer submits request for a tax credit to the agency based on the number of tons the program is projected to recover. • The agency determines it meets the sole criteria, i.e., can the effort reduce wastes through recycling or composting? • The proposer whether a plant, processor, farmer, city or hauler,confirms program success (e.g., with a bill of lading) • 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
Unique feature: Flexibility Any player in the recycling loop could initiate the process This fosters ingenuity and collaborations that are hard to achieve through grants alone.
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 1/3rd 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)