Pickup After Yourself After The 4th

(KFOR NEWS July 2, 2019) Keep Lincoln and Lancaster County Beautiful (KLLCB) encourages residents to properly dispose of fireworks debris following private and public Independence Day celebrations. Officials recommend allowing used fireworks to sit for several minutes and using water to make sure they are completely extinguished. A metal bucket or a bucket with sand or water can be used as a temporary trash can. Cooled fireworks can be placed in regular trash for disposal.

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. Cardboard tubes and casings used for fireworks are not recyclable and must be treated as garbage and sent to the landfill. Fireworks debris must not be taken to City recycling drop-off sites.

In addition to cleaning up after private celebrations, volunteers are needed for the annual Oak Lake Cleanup from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, July 5. For more information, visit lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: stream). Select the “Oak Lake Cleanup” link. In connection with the cleanup, the Bureau of Fire Prevention will also collect unwanted fireworks and ammunition in the east parking lot of the park.

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 of each year.

KLLCB is a program of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department. The fireworks debris prevention effort is funded in part by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. More information on KLLCB is available at lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: kllcb). More information on the health department is available at health.lincoln.ne.gov.