Michigan remains a state known for its vast environmental splendor yet ranks among the lower half in the nation for recycling rates.
For decades much of the state’s household waste stream was simply landfilled, but improved technology and the promise of a robust post-consumer materials market prompted state regulators to review current regulations. Officials say Michiganders are recycling more than ever before and it’s time for an update to the state’s solid waste law.
A multi-year endeavor under the last and current administrations to overhaul the way Michigan handles its trash culminated in an extensive bill package to revamp solid waste law and enhance recycling, composting, and materials reuse.
The Michigan House last year passed those bills in a bipartisan effort grown from Snyder-era initiatives, but the legislative package has been stalled in the Senate for the last year.
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“We know that the material we pay to throw away every day has a value in the marketplace. There are Michigan businesses that can’t get enough recycled feedstock to make their products,” said Kerrin O’Brien, executive director for the Michigan Recycling Coalition.
That nonprofit organization estimates Michiganders pay more than $1 billion a year to manage their waste, and within that flow of garbage is $600 million worth of recyclable materials lost every year to landfills.
Pending state legislation would establish a policy framework for counties to develop recycling and materials programs as economic drivers by updating county plans and encouraging regional collaboration to develop landfills, recycling, and composting facilities. There would be recycling benchmark standards, such as curbside service in larger communities and convenient drop-off sites for counties.
Experts estimate that should Michigan increase its recycling rate from 19 percent to a more impressive 45 percent, the state would benefit from about 138,000 jobs, $9 billion in labor income and a whopping $33 billion in economic output. The environmental benefits would include a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to nearly 1.5 million passenger vehicles driven in a year.
The existing law includes decades-old regulations which outlined landfill growth but not how to effectively pull valuable materials from the waste stream as recycling grew more efficient and manufacturers found ways to make use of what people threw away. Michigan ended up with ample and inexpensive landfilling capacity and little incentive to recycle, even despite economic opportunities that grew out of years of commercial innovation.
Recycling programs developed individually, leading to a patchwork of rules about what can be recycled in which communities. Some places offer no public recycling services at all.
The pending bills would allow Michigan communities to improve the state’s circular economy, said Mike Aliamo, director of environmental and energy affairs for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
The market for recycled materials can be unstable, he said, and the legislation would help fill in the supply gaps and build a domestic supply chain in Michigan.
“I think there’s a lot of synergies you can create just simply from having your end point for these materials being close to where they are used or even originally manufactured. So, we want to help close those gaps,” Aliamo said.
The bills were written to update current regulations; the multi-year effort was backed by state regulators, lawmakers, and a diverse stakeholder group that includes local governments, environmental groups, recycling advocates, and trade groups representing manufacturers, waste haulers, landfill owners, and more.
Tripling Michigan’s recycling rate is among the targets of the state’s forthcoming climate plan that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer directed state officials to write, laying out goals to collectively make Michigan’s economy carbon neutral by 2050. Recycling is among the ways society can strive to reduce carbon emissions, climate scientists say.
Overall environmental benefits in the proposed solid waste law update come from actively promoting the reuse of disposed items rather than starting with virgin materials, said Liz Browne, materials management division director for the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lake, and Energy.
“If we are successful in generating the materials within Michigan and having the markets for them within Michigan, we are going to decrease our transportation impacts significantly. If we manage our organics in something other than the landfill space, we will significantly minimize the gas generation and those impacts from our landfills. So, yes, we see a lot of benefits to this package, both from the recycling piece but also just in terms of the management, in particular, of the materials within the landfills,” she said.
Emmet County sets a statewide example, Browne said, operating a self-sustaining recyclables program by selling reusable materials across Michigan and the Midwest and running its own waste transfer station as a regional hub for surrounding areas.
Leaders at the up-north program said the community placed a focus on recycling decades ago and built the program up from there. The program even hired more full-time employees during the pandemic rather than continue with mostly temp workers.
“Recycling is free to residents. Garbage is not, so there is the natural incentive to recycle. So that, in itself really, gave residents kind of reason to recycle, to buy-in for recycling,” said Andi Tolzdorf, the county’s recycling program director.
“It is just part of the culture here in northern Michigan. And I think it’s because it is convenient and comprehensive and cost effective. It’s easy for everyone to do it. And businesses do it. Residents do it. Everyone has access to it. And there’s no reason really not to. And I do think that that could be replicated statewide. People just need access right now; the biggest thing is there is a lack of access to recycling statewide,” Tolzdorf said.
The pending legislation includes other pieces – more than just recycling. Among the package is a bill that would increase landfill surety bonds to prevent costly environmental cleanups from becoming taxpayer problems.
Bill sponsor Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, said this would ensure that any required cleanups happen even after landfills are retired, and taxpayers are not left footing the bill.
“This is about taxpayer fairness. This is about making sure that taxpayers in the state of Michigan don’t get saddled with undue burden, that the people that live around these landfills aren’t unnecessarily burdened,” he said.
The bill package would also establish standards for landfill gas controls and changes to expected landfill closure schedules to a case-by-case basis. Additionally, local officials would gain more controls over the aesthetics and hours of operation at landfills, recycling, and compost facilities.
State regulators said they want the comprehensive revamp to be adopted this year, too, as the changed rules would help them better enforce regulations and hold landfill operators accountable.
Browne pointed to the example of Arbor Hills Landfill at the border of Washtenaw and Oakland counties as the “poster child” for landfill issues. Regulators last year reached a $2.3 million settlement with that landfill operator over accusations of violating state and federal laws and endangering public health.
The negotiated bill package is the best possible update for waste management in Michigan with compromise from all the players, Browne said.
“I will say that the things that might have been keeping staff up at night are addressed in the package,” she said.
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