Fireworks will be seen and heard around Lincoln for the next week as residents prepare for Fourth of July celebrations. City officials are stressing the importance of properly disposing spent fireworks.
“You want to make sure you have a bucket of water,” says Erin Kubicek, Environmental Health Educator for LTU. ” You’ll wait for the fireworks to cool and then you’ll sweep them up and soak them in the bucket of water and after they have been thoroughly soaked then they can be thrown away with the regular trash.”
Kubicek urges residents to not leave fireworks in the streets after setting them off. “If you leave fireworks in the street when your all done and it rains it will actually wash that into the storm drains and storm drains lead to the nearest lake or stream.”
Kubicek says fireworks contain heavy metals and other chemicals which are harmful to wildlife. In addition, all of the cardboard packing for fireworks can not be recycled and need to be put into the trash bin.
She says after volunteers will clean up Oak Lake Park after the Uncle Sam Jam on July 5 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lunch provided for volunteers who help.