Now that fireworks season is underway Lincoln residents are being urged to make sure they are completely out before tossing them into the trash. City officials says cooled fireworks debris must be soaked in a water-filled metal bucket or a bucket with sand and placed in regular trash for disposal.
Cardboard tubes and casings used for fireworks are not recyclable and must be put into the garbage bins and sent to the landfill. Debris is not allowed at City recycling collector sites or in curbside recycling bins.
Erin Kubicek is an Environmental Health Educator with LTU and tells KLIN News make sure spent fireworks aren’t left on the sidewalks where they could be washed away by rain. “Litter that is washed down storm drains eventually flows into streams, rivers and lakes, and the potentially harmful substances in fireworks can pollute the environment and harm aquatic life. If it is in our streets, it is in our streams.
As part of the effort to encourage people to dispose of fireworks safely, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department offers free yard signs with the message “If you blow it up, clean it up. Protect our water. Prevent Litter. Clean up firework debris.”
Signs are available through July 3 and can be picked up at the Health Department, 3131 “O” St., Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Signs are on the first floor near the north entrance. City ordinance allows the sale and use of permissible fireworks only from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. July 3 and from 8 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. July 4 each year.