Make recycling a habit, coordinator says
gfer Jaaa Pedersen
Hftior Raponcr
idtor’i Note; This is the third story in ■
mr-part series about recycling.
IA ?ho«lh recycling seems to be the per
feet ettemetive for waste disposal, U*s
If ^ not always convenient, profitable or
y^pular, according to Lincoln's recycling
Ren, Hanlon said the biggest problem w ith
Recycling is people'll attitudes.
I We live in a wasteful country,” lie said.
■ Lincoln produces 61 pounds of garbage a
■ty per person, Hanlon said, while other cities
ych as Tokyo and, Berlin, only produce 21
Bounds and il pounds a person, respectively.
Both of those cities have extensive recy
cling programs, he said.
Hanlon said that because U.S. land has been
a fairly inexpensive resource, Americans don’t
view landfill sites* as a costly alternative for
waste disposal . ,
!n other countries land is too valuable to be
used for landfills, he said.
The higher cost of developing landfills is
just being felt in the Lincoln area with the site
and construction of the new multi-million dol
lar landfill. •
Figuring in operating costs with the collec
tion end burial of the high volume of garbage
produced in Lincoln, using the new landfill
will cost about $12 million a year, Hanlon said.
’’Thftt’s more than the city of Lincoln allo
cates for its police department,” he said.
But even if citizens realize that recycling is
a less expensive alternative to landfill disposal,
Hanlon said, they still may not recycle.
More than two-thirds of
Lincoln citizens who par- HiSlsaisUG
ticipated in a recent survey V *
said the> would be willing BBvlviJl
U. recycle, to only 15 per- RECYCLE
cent said they currently nnotwi n
were recycling, Hanlon HS&IUJS
“Lion to. he w^lBECYCLE
pleased widi the survey results as far as partici
pants’ positive responses to recycling were
concerned, but said he was disappointed that
more people weren’t actually recycling.
Lincoln residents are beginning to realize
thal reqj&ling Snakes seise,” rnnktfi said.
‘But it’s not a habit and that’s what we need to
do - make it a habit.”
To make recycling a habit for most resi
dents, he said, it must be convenient
Convenience is difficult to achieve in a
recycling program because it is costly, Hanlon
said.
Residents would be more likely to recycle if
they didn’t have to trim sport their recyclable
products, he said.
But he said hiring someone to pick up recy -
iclable products is expensive.
Convenience also is necessary for separa
tion of recyclable products from other garbage,
Hanlon said. *
He said that at the City/County Building in
See RECYCLE on 3
NU programs thrive
with initiative’s help
By Natalie Weinstein
Staff Reporter
. ■ 11 — i
The $2.85 million the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln re
I ceived during the first year of
the Nebraska Research Initiative al
ready has generated $3.3 million in
contracts and grants with another
$10.4 million still pending, said the
vice chancellor for research and
than 40 government and pri
vate grants had contracts have foea
awarded to UNL, John Yost said.
Only one grant - worth $733,000 -
has been turned down, he said.
I ne research initiative money has
helped UNL take a “giant step for
ward as a major research university,' *
Yost said. The impact has been “of a
fairly dramatic nature’* financially,
he said, as well as psychologically.
Yost said he has been told that the
research initiative has done as much
to boost morale as the three-year fac
ulty salary increase plan has.
Every year for five years, the re
search initiative injects $4 million
more than the previous year into the
University of Nebraska budget Thus,
NU received $4 million last year, $8
million this year and will receive $12
million, $16 million and then $20
million ih the next three years.
This totals $60 million tagged
specifically for research in five years.
The plan is designed to boost NU’s
profile and the state’s economic de
velopment
UNL received $2.85 million dur
ing the first year of the plan, which ran
from July 1,1988, to June 30,1989.
The University of Nebraska at
Omaha received $200,000, and the
University of Nebraska Medical
Center received $950,000.
OTihe $2.85 Million UNL re
ceived in the first year; $2.7 million
was pledged to match grant and con
tract proposals. UNL pledged an
other $2.1 million -- money separate
from research initiative funds — to
help match the giant and contract
proposals.
In this second year of.the plan,
which tags $8 million for research,
UNL received about $5.4 million.
UNO received $500,000 and UNMC
•boat $2 million. '
Therm's no way
we could have
achieved what we
have in the last
year without the
Nebraska Re
search Initiative.’
, _-i
—YOSt
. Without the money from the re
search initiative, Yost said, UNL
could not have made the progress it
has.
"There's no way we could have
achieved what we have in the last
year without the Nebraska Research
Initiative." he said.
UNL has become more successful
in giant and contract awards, Yost
said, because the research initiative
has "provided us for the first time
with a substantia! and identifiable
pool of funds."
In the first year, research centers
were developed in five areas: bio
technology, technology manage
ment and decision science, engineer
See RESEARCH on 3
Carmatia Brigand of OmahL
quarterback Tumor GW. — u
Fame ware honorad Saturday at haKttma.
Meetings help with product development
ty Jerry Guenther
enK'f Reporter
Neboskt entrepreneurs with ideas for
new food products can get help with
everything from packaging to market
ig through a University of Nehraska-Lmcoln
enter located in H.C Filley Hall.
Dan Neumeister, associate director of the
ood Processing Center, said there are monthly
iformational meetings which cover business
nd technical areas of product development to
wist first-time food entrepreneurs.
The meetings, which usually are attended
y eight to 12 entrepreneurs, cover basic infer
ation they must know to start developing
cir product, Neumeister said.
Some questions answered at meetings in
ude how to get a product legally on the
arket, how to get a logo designed aid where
Pt a product packaged, he said.
NL faculty members and technicians also
meet one-on-one with the entrepreneurs after
the meeting to discuss particular product
needs, he said.
Neumeister said entrepreneurs attending
meetings are given a folder containing infor
mation on what sources to see to assist them in
developing their product.
The cost to attend the meeting is about $35,
which covers the expense of putting the folder
together, he said.
Although center officials discus* marketing
strategies with the entrepreneurs, Neumeister
said, it is still left to the entrepreneurs to deckle
where they want their products sold.
The center mostly works with individuals,
Neumeister said, but also works, with some
corporations and small companies. Between
100 and 150 entrepreneurs currently are work
ing with th£ center, he said,
i Neumeister said the center, which was
founded in 1983, began through cooperative
efforts from UNL agricultural administration
officials, the state Department of Economic
Development and the NU Foundation.
"The farm economy was in the pits "bock
then," Neumeistcr said. "Something needed
to be done to provide some assistance to the
farm community, other entrepreneurs and ex
isting industries in the state.
former Nebraska Gov. Bob Kerrey also was
very active in trying to find value-added prod
ucts to boost the state’s economy, he said.
, "The thought was that we’re a great state
for the production of raw agricultural prod
ucts," he said. "We were producing a tremen
dous amount of meat and grain, but we were
exporting a great deal of it in an unprocessed
(form)/^
By processing raw materials in the stale,
Neameisua said, new jobs are created in Ne
braska that otherwise would go elsewhere.
Many of the center’s first calls wen from
See CENTER on 3
