Local Government Central—Rural Issues

The Rural Cookbook

The CIWMB published the Rural Cookbook in June 1994 to introduce jurisdictions to a range of possibilities that might be considered when designing a waste management system in a rural area. It reflected the State Legislature's ongoing interest—and the Board's commitment—toward helping rural areas meet the mandates of the 1989 Integrated Waste Management Act. It highlighted specific diversion programs used by rural cities and areas throughout the country.

Over the past eight years, rural counties have greatly expanded their efforts to target waste streams and divert materials. Many of the lessons of the Rural Cookbook have been learned well. Any jurisdiction representative who has misplaced his or her copy and wishes to replace it may contact his or her OLA representative.

Places to Intervene in the Waste Stream

Rural counties have a limited number of places to intervene in the waste stream to divert materials.  The Rural Cookbook outlined several; CIWMB staff has added a few more. Among the potential points of diversion are:

• Campgrounds
• Courthouses
• Fairgrounds (especially the RV parking area)
• Hospitals
• Indian casinos
• Marinas
• Newspaper offices
• Nurseries
• Manufacturing establishments
• Prisons
• Restaurants
• Retail establishments
• Schools

Innovative Program Ideas

The following examples were selected from the Rural Cookbook  because they were deemed especially innovative, easy to replicate, or have the potential to divert significant amounts of materials.

Animal Newspaper Bedding: An innovative dairy farmer in South Dakota provides bedding for his 200 cows by picking up over-runs and old newspapers from the local publisher and shredding them in a small grinder. This reduced his cost for straw bedding. Other benefits were reduced dust, reduced odor, cleaner cows, and reduced incidence of udder inflammation. The paper bedding is eventually composted.

Drop and Swap: Residents are asked to bring unwanted but usable items to the county fairgrounds to swap with their neighbors.  Anything left over is given to thrift stores, repair shops, or community groups.

Concrete Additives: South Sioux City, Nebraska, built an "Eco-Path" using Portland cement, mineral binders, and some 50,000 pounds of locally generated wood, cardboard, paper, glass, and plastic. The 1000-foot-long, 6-foot-wide and four-inch thick path is poured like ordinary concrete, and has similar structural properties. A special grinder was needed.

Last updated: January 09, 2008