Frustration grows over west Omaha recycling center

ELKHORN, Neb. (WOWT) - There’s growing frustration with an Omaha recycling site that has become a dumping ground.

It’s the one at Ta-Ha-Zouka Park in Elkhorn.

“It looks pretty irresponsible to me,” said Taelyr Weekly of Elkhorn.

Recycling bins are overflowing; trash bags are piled on top of each other near stacks of boxes.

Weekly says the pile seems to get bigger after long holiday weekends.

“It doesn’t look very good. My two-year-old noticed it right away. So that’s, yeah,” she said.

Matt O’Connell, Omaha’s recycling coordinator, admits it’s not pretty.

“When we see things like that it’s frustrating for the residents, it’s frustrating for the city and for the contractor as well,” he said.

O’Connell said the city contracted with FCC Environmental Services to manage recycling sites.

“They’re ultimately responsible for maintaining the site and servicing the containers and getting any illegal dumping cleaned up,” he said.

The general manager of FCC says the problem is people dumping illegally.

6 News crews noticed that many items at the site are not recyclable including fireworks, bags of pet food, and even furniture.

However, just yards away are four dumpsters that are nearly empty. O’Connell said, “It’s unsightly and it causes a lot of stuff to become waste that could be in the recycling stream.”

Late Friday morning, an FCC crew showed up and started clearing away the overflow. The general manager says if this is not enough, they have a backup plan, including using residential crews to help with recycling.

Weekly says something needs to be done and it starts with the people. She said, “It looks pretty irresponsible to me. It seems like people are not thinking about what they’re doing prior to dumping.”

The city stresses that placing anything on the ground is illegal, whether it’s recyclables or garbage.

Anyone caught dumping illegally could be fined $500 and have their driver’s license suspended for up to six months.

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