By JOHN E. WEARE
KAB
Bales and repurposed IBC totes full of everything from electronics to glass stack up on the south side of the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center. I assure our crew that Spud will be by for a load and, sure enough, eight tons worth of material disappears about once a week. The Nebraska Recycling Council recently recognized our intrepid hauler, who prefers to come and go before the chickens wake up, as their member of the year. He was also a speaker at their 2026 “Beyond the Bin” conference where the award was presented Sept. 16 at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln. Spud Rowley serves as executive director of Keep Kimball Beautiful (KKB). KAB has contracted with him to haul our recycling through his private business since 2020. Dependable transportation to the next stops in the recycling process is essential and not something our Keep America Beautiful affiliate wants to tackle with our own resources. Loads leaving Alliance either go through Kimball or Western Resources Group (WRG) in Ogallala before arriving at end markets to become something new. Our recycling center accepts materials other facilities may not because we work with Spud to find a market. We are promoting rural recycling because chemical jugs, lick tubs and feed bags, for example, can all be accepted.
I met Spud not too long after coming to KAB seven years ago. We joined other area affiliates and toured his recycling center to consider the potential for a hub and spoke system. In the years since KAB has become a hub for the northern Panhandle and, in turn, spokes for Kimball and Ogallala to the tune of more than 900,000 pounds a year for much of this decade.
Spud has been invested in recycling for years. He has been working at Keep Kimball Beautiful for 15 years and will mark 11 years as executive director this February. He had been a supervisor with the City, helping at the landfill and other departments. The building that now serves as the recycling center was where the City housed a landfill truck. “I was at a meeting and it came to light they needed help at KKB . . . the gentleman had some medical issues. I started picking up cardboard,” Spud recalled.
Spud has been an inspiration with what he’s done in Kimball, garnering over a million pounds of annual volume in the area he serves. He has been innovative in his approach to residential recycling with a tote in the alley of every block where people toss bags for single stream. “Expansion is necessary to stay ahead of the recycle game,” Spud said, pointing out that 60 percent of waste is recyclable. He has coordinated regular collection of glass, e-waste and batteries. Recycling of those materials is not an option in other rural areas or providers may only offer periodic collection events. Spud also creates local options. He takes tires for a lower fee which helps divert them from the landfill.
Spud enjoys working to find solutions. “People want to know how, but they’re not open for suggestions,” he said. “I like resolving some of that. It’s truly partnerships and collaboration that’s the achievement – I want people to succeed.”
Recycling brings challenges no matter the size of the community or facility. Spud mentioned contaminants is his single stream, just as our KAB sorters encounter in curbside bags. Time is another universal constraint. In addition to hours hauling for his private business, Spud has
spread things out at KKB, which has served the community for 44 years. There is now somebody working seven days a week at their facility even if it is a few hours some Sundays, for instance. He said the schedule makes operation more manageable and promotes a better flow to meet demand.
Coordinating with Spud to handle our demand has been helpful as we seek to maintain a stable, growing program. He embraces change and brings people together to advance cleaner, greener communities. Spud said, “There is a solution to it all as long as we’re all in it.”