5-29-2021 6:41am

A Cleaner Summer is Coming to Parts of Western Washtenaw

By Doug Marrin

The City of Dexter and surrounding communities will be cleaning up their recyclables this summer.

At its May 24, 2021, meeting, the Dexter City Council listened to a presentation by Theo Eggermont, Public Works Director for Washtenaw Regional Resource Management Authority's (WRRMA) Quality Improvement Grant Program.

WRRMA is a waste authority formed by seven municipalities in Washtenaw County. Ann Arbor Charter Township, Pittsfield Charter Township, Scio Township, and Ypsilanti Township and the cities of Dexter, Saline, and Ypsilanti are all members of WRRMA. The authority is focused on improving recycling quality in its member communities.

"We reached out to our material recovery facilities and asked, 'What kind of rates do you see as far as contamination?" Eggermont told the Council. "They told us they were seeing around 30%, which is very high. So, this is, it's problematic."

WRRMA was recently awarded a $243,000 grant from EGLE to reduce recycling contamination in its region.

Eggermont opened his presentation by explaining that one of the main problems with contamination is worker safety. He used the example of non-recyclable materials such as Christmas lights, garden hoses, electrical cords, and textiles getting wrapped around the machinery. A worker then has to climb into the machinery and remove the clog.

Another problem is contamination can cause recyclable spoilage. "Imagine that one of every three pieces of recyclables being put in the bin is not actually recyclable," said Eggermont. "One of those items is a half-carton of milk, soda, or other liquid that gets crunched in the machine. That liquid now spills onto the paper making it garbage."

"By putting the wrong things in, you end up spoiling other people's recycling that has value," added Eggermont. "Multiply that by hundreds and hundreds of people, and now there's not enough paper to create toilet paper because paper comes from recycled paper."

WRRMA aims to use the grant to reduce contamination by 40%. The program will begin with an audit of contamination at the onset. Then, treatment of the problem will be applied through public outreach, education, and tagging of curbside recycling bins. Workers will go out, open the lids of the recycling bins on the curb, check the quality of recyclables, tag if contamination is found, and give residents feedback. At the end of the program, another audit will be conducted to measure the change in behavior.

"This program has been done about one-hundred times in the United States," said Eggermont. "It's well documented that it gets results."

Regarding the curbside bin checks, Eggermont said, "People have vocalized concerns about people digging through their recycling."

Eggermont explains, "They’re not. They’re just going to be flipping the lid to see what’s on top. We have trained people who have been doing this for a while. They can do about 100 an hour. So it’s very fast.”

The program begins June 11 with the initial audit of recyclables. After the audit, public education will take place in the form of informational cards mailed out. The curbside bin checks will begin June 24, after the informational cards are mailed, and will continue through four rounds of recycling pick-up. Initially, residents whose bins have been found with contamination will receive a tag and notification. Subsequent contamination for the same residents will result in their recyclables not being picked up with a note explaining why.

“When they did this program last fall in Kent County, they actually found that more people set out the carts over the period of the grant,” said Eggermont. “They found that more people actually set their carts out in week three and four than they wanted to. So if you give people the right tools to do the right thing, they end up doing more of that, which was encouraging.”