RECYCLING SUCCESS STORIES

Read about how we arrived at our current recycling rate from the perspective of some of our members. 

City of Novi Logo
City of Novi Welcomes You

By most accounts, the City of Novi, located in southeast Michigan, is a first class community, with great neighborhoods and parks, outstanding schools, and a well-run city government. In 2015, however, city leaders realized that its solid waste and recycling system no longer fully met the needs of the community and didn’t comport with best practices throughout Michigan and the United States.

Novi was the only city of its size in Oakland County that did not have a single hauler ordinance, instead requiring individual homeowners or subdivisions to negotiate contracts on their own and subscribe independently for services. That method served the City well for many years, but rising prices and complaints from residents about inconsistent services showed the need for change. The subscription-based collection system resulted in a lack of uniform services throughout the city, as many as four different haulers collecting on different days in neighborhoods, increased truck traffic, wear and tear on roads, and high prices. Furthermore, the City had no means of addressing service quality issues.

City leaders determined that a citywide contract with a private sector service provider was the solution. The City followed a comprehensive and open process of adopting new ordinances and soliciting competitive proposals for review by the City.

As a result, the City awarded a contract to Waste Management to provide comprehensive curbside services as of July 1, 2016. Service includes weekly refuse collection in 96-gallon carts, weekly recycling collection in 64-gallon carts, seasonal yard waste collection in paper bags or marked containers, and unlimited bulk item pick up.

The new system has provided a significant impact, which includes the following: 

Improved services, in terms of both quality and type. The service package represented an upgrade from the types of services previously provided and the City is now able to leverage its contract to ensure service quality.

Uniform services. Neighborhoods no longer have to deal with trash being set out at the curb more than one day a week.

Reduced truck traffic. The reduction in the number of haulers and routes in the City has reduced solid waste truck traffic and the City is hbetter able to control the hours of service.

Lower pricing. The new contract price, even with the upgrade to services, was 33% below the average subscription price in the City.

Improved recycling performance. Prior to the City’s new contract, some homeowners did not have curbside recycling service although their service costs were higher than the City’s contract cost. Now each homeowner has a 64-gallon recycling cart with the recycling guidelines printed on the lid. The results have been dramatic. More than 88% of homeowners participate in recycling each week, with nearly 800 pounds per household being collected on average during the first year of the contract, placing Novi among the best performing cities in the country. More than 4,000 tons of recyclables were collected and processed for market, giving the City an overall recycling rate of more than 40%.

Improved services, reduced truck traffic, lower prices, and recycling performance among the best in the country. First class, indeed. 

Emmet County Recycling Logo
Emmet County Recycling Bins

How did a county recycling program in a remote rural area become one of the most comprehensive, successful systems in the state and a key asset in the economy of the Tip of the Mitt?

When Emmet County took over recycling from a local nonprofit in the late 1980s, recycling was sorely underdeveloped – as is common in many rural Michigan communities even today. There were just two drop-off sites collecting newspapers in cargo trailers and a building at the county waste transfer station where the paper was baled.

Today, the recycling program has grown to include composting yard and food waste, employs 28 people, supplies materials to dozens of Michigan businesses, and brings in over $650,000 a year from the sale of recyclables. Those dollars flow back out into the regional economy as the operation creates demand for services from vehicle maintenance to equipment repair and construction. And all based on materials which the community would otherwise have paid millions of dollars to bury.

The County Solid Waste Planning process led commissioners to support improving the recycling program, but challenged the new public works director to develop funding for the program, without relying on tax dollars. Funding for Emmet County Recycling (ECR) is based on two simple policies. First, all waste is collected at the county waste transfer station. This “flow control” policy assures adequate material volume for efficient operation and serves the additional critical purpose of protecting competition among waste haulers. Second, a county “tip fee surcharge” is allocated from the waste transfer station revenues to provide funding for basic recycling infrastructure and operations not covered by the sale of recyclables or contracts for services.

To give residents responsibility for the waste they generate, a “pay as you throw” ordinance was also adopted. This requires volume-based pricing for garbage hauling and disposal, rather than a flat rate for unlimited disposal which has been proven to encourage wasting more.

Along the way, local and state governments have provided a couple of key boosts: The first building was partially funded by a state grant. And a 2-year .025 millage bought Emmet County Recycling bins for the first 10 drop sites, a truck to haul them, and processing equipment for sorting and baling.

The result of those investments and policies have been dramatic: Three other counties – Cheboygan, Otsego, and Presque Isle – now contract with Emmet County Recycling for sorting and marketing services. This achieves great economies of scale for all involved. Together, they generate roughly 15,000 tons of recyclables a year. In 2016, they saved an estimated $1,740,000 in landfill costs. In addition to households, hundreds of Emmet County businesses benefit by being able to recycle their waste materials, including Circuit Controls Corporation, which has achieved “Zero Waste” status.

Perhaps the greatest testament to the success of the program, though, is the amazing community support it receives. Over 80% of Emmet County households use the recycling program, which achieved a 42% recycling rate in 2015.

Lansing Capital Building

Recycling has become a valued public service that provides many economic, environmental, and public health benefits to communities and their residents. Several capital area communities, including Lansing and East Lansing, provide comprehensive recycling services and more would like to provide similar services. The Capital Region Recycling Initiative (CRRI) developed out of local government interest in providing cost-effective, universal access to recycling services across the region.

By working together, Mid-Michigan communities aim to:

  1. Reduce confusion by collecting a common set of materials so every household in the region can recycle the same items,
  2. Provide an optimal number of drop-off sites to provide recycling opportunities for rural, sub-rural, multi-family, and commercial populations across the region, and
  3. Provide consistent recycling education to properly inform citizens to participate fully in programs.

By employing best program management practices, capital area communities can pull more recyclable material out of households and businesses and make that material available to local recycling haulers and processors. These communities are talking about the potential of adding more processing capacity in the region by mutually agreeing to use the region’s accumulated recycling volume to drive the infrastructure developments needed to make recycling a regional and community asset. The group is working to attract an investing partner(s) to collaborate with regional stakeholders to build/own/operate a comprehensive transfer station or full scale material recovery facility.

Communities with established recycling services will benefit by adding value to collected materials in the region and avoiding the cost of hauling recyclables to other parts of the state. Communities without established recycling services will benefit from the development of a comprehensive recycling system that provides services in closer proximity with the potential for revenue sharing. Building infrastructure and creating jobs in the tri-county region will benefit everyone. Additionally, improving the system that is already in place through more supportive and collaborative programs, services, and education will have benefits for all area residents.

All governmental units in Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton counties are encouraged to engage in the process, agree to the conditions, and ultimately sign on to the Capital Region Recycling Initiative.

Cocoa Logo: The Next Agricultural Revolution

Composting may not seem like the type of disruptive high-tech venture that would get Silicon Valley’s attention, but Holland-based Cocoa Compost Corporation captured top prize at the 14th Annual Global Technology Symposium this October. Cocoa Compost is turning organic waste into a rich compost that West Michigan farmers are using as a substitute for commercial fertilizers. The potential for quality compost is huge given the annual output of organic waste and Michigan’s nearly 10 million acres of agricultural land.

After generations of intensive crop production, soils lose the necessary organic matter, biological communities, and nutrients necessary for viable crop production in years to come. The organic components of soil give it good structure, water holding capacity, and increase nutrient uptake by plants. Ironically, Michigan has an ample supply of organic waste, considering that makes up almost 50% or about 8 million tons of Michigan’s annual municipal waste stream. This supply is ripe for composting and ultimately diverse application across sectors, including agricultural.

Cocoa compost owner, Adam Brent, mixes yard waste and soiled paper collected from the curbs of West Michigan communities by Chef Container, with organic waste from food processors in the region to make a high quality and important soil amendment. Brent contends, “Composting could be a billion dollar industry that virtually eliminates a waste problem. But current State policy hinders innovation and I had to go to California to get the recognition this work deserves.”

The result of the composting process is a stabilized organic matter soil amendment whose environmental benefits are significant and numerous. Compost is unique because it improves the intrinsic health and biochemical functioning of soil. It is applied to fields with lime or manure spreaders to keep stable, high value organic materials available for plant utilization. One West Michigan farmer using Cocoa Compost reported an initial 4% yield increase and with continued application, the benefits are cumulative. These results suggest that employing compost more broadly across the agricultural sector will likely be financially attractive for farmers.

Michigan’s current policy incentivizes landfilling organic wastes as opposed to managing these materials for beneficial end uses. This policy creates an economic and environmental burden for communities and residents who shoulder the economic and environmental costs of cheap disposal. Successfully connecting Michigan’s organic waste supply to compost manufacturers will improve the health and productivity of Michigan soils through the agriculture and landscape industries and is a win-win.

The State must create the right conditions and lead us away from managing organics as a waste product to managing organics as the resource it is. Ultimately, this is good for Michigan communities and their economies as the core activities of the composting industry create jobs, revenue, and are best managed at the local level.

City of Ann Arbor Logo
City of Ann Arbor Bin

Ann Arbor has been a recycling leader in Michigan since the late 1970s. The nonprofit Ecology Center opened the state’s first recycling drop-off center in 1971. Recycle Ann Arbor began the first curbside collection program in the state in 1978. Ann Arbor city government embraced and began to support both functions in the early 1980s.

The City recovers over 50% of its residential waste through recycling and composting and has achieved an overall recovery rate of 40%, inclusive of the commercial/industrial sector.

In the last few years, however, the City has seen its dedicated solid waste fund balance dwindle through a combination of legacy costs; Federal accounting mandates for retiree pension benefits, ongoing monitoring and clean-up costs associated with its now closed municipal landfill, and other unexpected capital expenditures. Furthermore, in  mid-2016, the City terminated its contract with its materials recovery facility (MRF) operator for perceived operational and safety concerns. Since that time, the City has been shipping its recyclables to a MRF in Ohio for lack of adequate material processing capacity at other facilities in the southeast Michigan region.

These and other challenges have led to unexpected costs for transportation that amount to approximately $800,000 of its $15 million annual solid waste budget. Resources to enhance and expand opportunities to commercial and multi-family recycling, downtown organics collection are simply not available and it’s difficult to quantify the opportunity cost of recycling commodities shipped to Ohio.

The lack of recycling processing capacity in the region at present has greatly complicated the City’s options in the near-term. In spite of that, the City is exploring all options, including teaming up with Washtenaw County to identify additional regional approaches that could provide cost-effective, long-term materials management strategies in the future.

City of Novi Welcomes You
Emmet County Recycling
Lansing Capital Building
Cocoa Logo: The Next Agricultural Revolution
City of Ann Arbor Bin