Central Valley Ag (CVA) cooperative added a specialized recycling baler at its Duncan Feed Mill, York, NE, expanding its ability to reduce and recycle
“We really wanted to look into improving our sustainability efforts, which ultimately brings new value to our customers,” said Dean Nygren, CVA Feed Mill Supervisor in Duncan. “With this specialized baler, we are now able to bale our own byproduct waste and ensure that we’re impacting the environment as little as possible.”
The inspiration behind implementing a specialized baler came about when members of the CVA team with Integrated Recycling LLC started researching ways to recycle byproduct waste from the feed milling process, and cardboard and paper bag waste from the ingredients used to manufacture livestock feed for customers.
“The baler will cut the disposal costs and resources in half. More importantly, it no longer takes up space in the local landfill, which is a service to the community,” said Derek Broekemeier, CVA Feed Operations Lead.
To assist in cost of the baler, CVA applied for and was awarded a Recycling Equipment Grant from the Nebraska Recycling Council in December 2017. The grant is one of 85 grant projects in 2017 receiving $16.6 million in grant awards from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, which is funded by proceeds from the Nebraska Lottery.
The new baler was delivered and installed in March. The CVA team has been using the baler to consolidate cardboard and empty paper ingredient bags, which once baled into blocks, are picked up by Integrated Recycling LLC for recycling.
