Nebraskan Stakeholders Pump Recycling Access for People With DisabilitiesNebraskan Stakeholders Pump Recycling Access for People With Disabilities

We hear it often: the easier it is to recycle, the more likely people are to do it; and once they embrace it, they feel all the more part of their community. People with disabilities are no different.

But imagine what recycling might be like for someone in a wheelchair. Or with limited or no sight or hearing. Or cognitive issues. That’s something that Allison Majerus started to think about when she ran programs for the Nebraska Recycling Council (NRC). Her interest was sparked both by her job and the fact that her husband is blind.

“When we were dating, as a sighted person I was curious to learn from him about the challenges and opportunities he encountered around recycling,” she says.

That conversation led Majerus into a year-long project to glean insight from the community of people with disabilities at large, and from the organizations that serve them. 

From there, NRC launched a few events for this special population to collect and rehome durable medical equipment (DME) (more to come about its latest inclusion work and hopeful next steps).

The recycling nonprofit recovers wheelchairs, lift chairs, and portable ramps among other valuable wares that often sit idle in attics or basements once their original owners no longer need them.  

The problem is they are bulky, heavy, and hard to maneuver, especially for anyone with limited mobility. Besides, people just don’t know where to go with them, says Kimberly Carroll Steward, executive director, Nebraska Recycling Council.

Funded by a grant from Nebraska Environmental Trust, the collection and rehoming events are also supported by recycling partners and nonprofits working with people with disabilities. 

For a week, donors can bring retired lifts, wheelchairs, scooters, hospital beds, and other DME to a drop off site. If they can’t move them or drive, a company picks them up at their homes at no cost.

Volunteers assess the equipment’s condition to determine if it’s usable as is, needs refurbishment, or whether it should go to scrap. What’s usable—most of it is Carroll Steward says—is prepared to be given away.  NRC invites Nebraskans to come out and take what they need.

With the first two events under its belt, the recycling nonprofit has rehomed 157 items and diverted 7,780 pounds of sheet iron and 492 pounds of steel case batteries.

Not a single whole unit or part has gone to landfill. In fact, what might have otherwise been trashed makes money. Recyclers pay for old batteries and scrap metal, with the proceeds used to buy new batteries for power chairs. Plenty of them turn up in good condition, but just need that power unit.

Partners have donated storage and event space or loaned dumpster roll offs and pallets at no charge. They have done free pickups while others lent a hand to teach people how to use their new equipment, fit them for it, or do other needed set up.  

“I've been shocked at the generosity across the board.  Surprised by people's willingness to give time and service and the equipment that's donated. It helps ensure that our funding can stretch across all events,” says Carroll Steward.

Nonprofit Assistive Technology Partnership (ATP) provides technical support for the events and also distributes the recovered DME to its clients, many who are on very tight budgets and some who have no insurance.

Tobias J. Orr, ATP’s director, believes one of the biggest recycling hardships for people with disabilities is finding a way to get their discards where they need to go.

“If a person uses public transportation, it is not an easy task to take your week’s worth of recyclable materials to a local drop off spot,” he says.

With larger items such as a wheelchair it is basically impossible for many people to make the trek.

“In an ideal world there would be more programs out there with capacity to pick up recyclable materials from individuals that are unable to do it themselves. Sadly, it is still much easier to throw items away [or store them] rather than recycle them.”

The DME rehome programs have been a win from where he sits. ATP received scores of donations from these first two events.

For recipients the equipment was life changing.

“One gentleman in particular needed a power wheelchair but for whatever reason was never provided one by his insurance company. We were able to give him at no charge a gently used one; a new one probably costs an insurance company around $40,000. Instead of ending up in a scrap pile or landfill, it has a home with an individual that will hopefully get years of good use out of it.”

“I think we have to have humility and the ability to say, what we've set up that we thought might have been pretty good for our whole population maybe isn't. We can't say in one breath that we want our whole community recycling but create a system that might not be accessible to a pretty decent number of people,” says Carroll Steward.

About 42.5 million Americans have disabilities, representing 13 percent of civilians who live out in the community, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2021. They are people with hearing, vision, cognitive, walking, or independent living difficulties.

The DME program just could someday be part of a bigger picture and a better recycling story.

Majerus developed a guide of tips and best practices to extend support long past the rehome events. Written for municipalities, organizations, and businesses, it includes suggestions for increasing recycling access for people with varied, impairing conditions. It details ideas from ways to design drop-off sites and retrofit bins for people in wheelchairs to tactile signage for people who can’t see.

But Carroll Steward believes there are plenty of design features that could help anyone, regardless of their abilities. At the core of the strategy is standardization, whether consistent, easily accessible placement of bins and signage or QR codes to scan for instructions.

“QR codes especially are a great example of a universal design principle that could work for a lot of people. And it doesn't mean that you remove the other options. You just add that into your design. It’s proactively thinking through how to meet all users’ needs.”

NRC is preparing for its last two DME collection and rehoming events including in Omaha, Nebraska’s biggest city. Once the grant program is complete, the team will have laid tracks across just over half of the state.

Carroll Steward’s ultimate vision is for partners involved in the program’s planning and execution to pick up where NRC leaves off once funding ends. Already a few of them have expressed interest.

“We hope this initiative serves as proof of concept. We want the organizations we connected with to grow and learn and be able to run these programs on their own so this work can continue and go even farther.”