News Release: EGLE announces grants totaling $1.23M to improve Michigan’s recycling infrastructure

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 4, 2019
Jill A. Greenberg, EGLE Public Information Officer, GreenbergJ@Michigan.gov, 517-897-4965

EGLE announces grants totaling $1.23M to improve Michigan’s recycling infrastructure

State funds will benefit recycling programs, promote environmental stewardship in eight counties

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced today infrastructure grants totaling $1.23 million that will improve and expand recycling programs in eight Lower Peninsula counties.

The grants will also support the new Know It Before You Throw It campaign, EGLE’s first-ever statewide effort to better inform Michiganders of what can – and cannot – be recycled and how to recycle correctly.

“We want to inspire and inform more people than ever before in Michigan about how to recycle better and more frequently,” said EGLE Director Liesl Clark. “Know It Before You Throw It is a first-of-its-kind campaign for Michigan that offers multiple benefits. Increasing recycling and improving the quality of materials we’re recycling saves energy, reduces water use, decreases greenhouse gases, conserves resources and translates into local jobs.”

EGLE’s goal is to grow awareness of cleaner recycling practices to reduce the amount of contaminated materials improperly going into recycling bins. The state also wants to double Michigan’s recycling rate to 30% by 2025 and ultimately reach 45% annually. Michigan’s current 15% recycling rate is the lowest in the Great Lakes region and ranks among the nation’s lowest.

Achieving EGLE’s 30% recycling goal would produce a statewide total of as many as 12,986 jobs, which translates into an economic impact of up to $300 million annually, according to findings from the Expanding Recycling in Michigan Report prepared for the Michigan Recycling Partnership.

The EGLE grants announced today go to:

• City of Bay City ($40,632) to establish an enhanced single-stream recycling program and open a drop-off collection site for hard-to-recycle items that will serve all of Bay County.
• Branch County Conservation District ($35,400) to improve recycling collection capacity in the county through a public-private partnership between the Conservation District and the Biz Aid LLC materials recovery facility.
• City of Flint ($196,000) to enhance the processing capacity of the anaerobic digester facility at its wastewater treatment plant, which is operated through a collaboration with BioWorks Energy LLC.
• Forgotten Harvest ($19,259) to purchase collection infrastructure that will improve efficiency at the Oak Park-based food, rescue and distribution center that serves Oakland County and metro Detroit residents.
• Isabella County ($78,902) to enhance its drop-off recycling program by redesigning and relocating drop-off recycling sites across the county. The aim is to provide longer operating hours and more access to multifamily buildings. The proposed new locations will be in higher-traffic areas that offer greater access to both Isabella County residents and residents in rural areas of bordering counties.
• Cities of Lansing/East Lansing ($480,000) to help Ingham County’s two largest municipalities purchase a recycling collection truck that will address anticipated collection route increases from a new materials recovery facility being built in central Lansing in 2019-2020. The partnership effort is expected to save money while boosting conservation. The new recycling processing center will eliminate each city’s need to ship recyclables nearly 100 miles east on I-96 to Wayne County. The project also offers the potential for additional central Michigan communities to make the switch and lower their hauling costs. 
• Orion Township ($239,836) to support the Oakland County community’s plan to shift from subscription-based curbside recycling service to single-hauler, cart-based curbside recycling for all township residents.
• Sanilac County ($129,836) to expand its recycling collection program by adding storage that will enable staff to accept recyclable materials that are currently not being collected and increase recycling collection locations throughout the county.
• Wayne County Airport Authority ($10,400) to set up liquid disposal and bottle collection stations at the Detroit Metro Airport North Terminal Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. Passengers may not take liquids through the checkpoints, and each year 100 tons of waste are disposed from these locations that could be diverted from landfills if properly recycled.

The $1.23 million in grants unveiled today are among 26 grants totaling more than $5.96 million that EGLE is allocating this year that will serve 16 counties covering every region of the state. Recycling in Michigan is receiving a major boost as state legislators in an overwhelmingly bipartisan move have increased EGLE’s funding for recycling from $2 million last year to $15 million in 2019. The extra funds will support development of recycling markets, increase access to recycling opportunities and reinforce planning efforts to grow recycling at the local level.

More information about the Know It Before You Throw It education campaign is available at RecyclingRaccoons.org/.

To stay up to date on other EGLE news, follow Michigan.gov/MIEnvironment.

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