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More than $1.5 million dollars is being granted to Upper Peninsula communities to support recycling efforts in the region.
The grants from Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy will be combined with local funds to total more than $7 million to expand and improve recycling infrastructure in Houghton, Marquette, Chippewa, and Mackinac counties.
Over $65,000 will help support a $108,000 effort by Comprenew and Goodwill of Upper Michigan to enhance and expand their existing collaborative electronics recycling collection program.
Nearly $25,000 will help support Michigan Tech’s expansion of its existing campus recycling program and begin a new food waste collection program in their cafeterias.
$8000 will help support the city of Hancock’s enhancement of its existing curbside recycling collection program by switching 400 customers from using their own bins of various types and sizes in favor of standardized 35-gallon wheeled and lidded carts.
The U.P. grant announcements are part of the Marquette launch of Know It Before You Throw It, EGLE’s first-ever statewide education campaign to better inform Michiganders on what can – and cannot – be recycled and how to recycle correctly.
“We want to inform and inspire more people than ever before in Michigan about how to recycle better,” said EGLE Materials Management Division Director Jack Schinderle.
“This campaign is a first of its kind for Michigan that offers multiple benefits,” Schinderle said. “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.”
It’s the largest allocation of recycling grants this century to communities in the U.P. by the state’s environmental agency.
EGLE’s goal is to promote 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 as many as 12,986 jobs, which translates into an economic impact of up to $300 million annually, according to the Expanding Recycling in Michigan Report prepared for the Michigan Recycling Partnership.
To move further toward that benchmark, EGLE today unveiled seven U.P. grants including a public-private partnership with Closed Loop Partners, a New York City-based investment firm dedicated to advancing recycling infrastructure and innovation that is helping finance Marquette’s new project.
The Know It Before You Throw It campaign launches as communities across Michigan and the U.S. are struggling with international market shifts, resulting in higher costs for some local governments that fail to meet new industrywide cleanliness standards for recyclable materials.
EGLE officials were joined at the MCSWMA Recycling Processing Station news conference site by state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan; Mike Prusi, director of Gov. Whitmer’s Northern Michigan office in Marquette; Marquette Mayor Pro Tempore Sarah Reynolds; MCSWMA Director of Operations Bradley A. Austin; and Closed Loop Partners Managing Director Robert Milligan.
“On behalf of Upper Peninsula and Mackinac Island residents, we thank Gov. Whitmer, the Michigan Legislature and EGLE for their leadership and for working together to develop a strategy that will help improve and sustain our region’s environment now and throughout the 21st century,” Reynolds said.
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.
“There have been many recommendations the past few years by task forces and coalitions about the need to put more resources into recycling education and supporting local communities’ programs,” McBroom said. “The grant projects announced today will take a positive step toward reaching those recommendations and I am pleased that Marquette, Chippewa, Houghton and Mackinac counties in the Upper Peninsula can be a part of the program and get a boost with their recycling infrastructure.”
EGLE kicked off the campaign in Marquette by introducing the Michigan Recycling Raccoon Squad, a six-member team of recycling champions who will serve as EGLE’s education ambassadors. EGLE-commissioned research shows that education is key for residents to learn how to properly recycle. For example:
- 50% of Michigan residents mistakenly believe they’re allowed to recycle plastic bags in their curbside recycling, which is prohibited by most municipalities.
- 76% of Michiganders are unaware that failing to rinse and empty items before putting them in the recycling bin poses a risk of contaminating everything in the bin.
Michigan recycles more than 90% of bottles and cans that carry a deposit, but such returnable containers represent only 2% of all the waste Michiganders recycle every year. Almost 53% of the state’s municipal solid waste that goes to landfills could instead go to recycling facilities.
“Well-informed consumers make recycling work,” Austin said. “By encouraging people to focus on the basics and think about what they’re recycling before they toss it, we can improve our environment and build stronger communities across the U.P.”
“Michigan manufacturers rely on a clean, steady supply of recycled materials to make new products,” Milligan said.
“Keeping valuable materials in circulation and out of landfills ensures that businesses get what they need to produce their products,” Milligan said. “EGLE’s campaign is good for business and will help employers create more prosperous local economies.”
Five decades have passed since Michigan’s historic accomplishment with bottle deposit legislation earned the state national acclaim as an environmental champion, noted Prusi, who previously served in the Michigan Legislature for 14 years before retiring due to term limits.
“Michigan has unfortunately gotten complacent over that time,” Prusi said. “We can – and must – become America’s leaders again in recycling. The EGLE campaign is a tremendous opportunity for Michigan to advance to the next level of performance in protecting our environment.”
More information about the Know It Before You Throw It campaign is available at RecyclingRaccoons.org.
To stay up to date on other EGLE news, follow Michigan.gov/MIEnvironment.
