EGLE allocates $15.6M for recycling infrastructure grants in 2023

Recycling in Michigan is at “an all-time high,” according to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). The total amount of residential recycled materials being reported for fiscal year 2022 was 620,494 tons, about 66,000 tons more than what had been reported in the 2021 fiscal year.

According to EGLE, Michigan residents recycled more than 339,000 tons of paper, 154,000 tons of metals, 71,000 tons of glass and 45,000 tons of plastics in the 2022 fiscal year.

“We can all be proud that Michiganders are recycling now more than ever before,” EGLE environmental justice public advocate Regina Strong said during an EGLE news conference April 17. “This equates to every person in Michigan recycling 124 pounds each year of cardboard boxes, milk cartons, soup cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, food waste and other recyclable materials.”

In addition, EGLE has allocated $15.6 million in 2023 grant funding, available through public-private partnerships, to help fund recycling infrastructure investments and projects in Michigan. The department says recycling and remanufacturing industries in Michigan create 72,500 jobs and contribute more than $17 billion to the state’s total economic output.

The funding is part of EGLE’s strategy to support recycling infrastructure, improve the quality of recyclable materials and promote market development using the Renew Michigan Fund, which the state’s legislature created in 2019 to bolster recycling efforts in Michigan.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state lawmakers aim to raise Michigan’s recycling rate to 30 percent by 2029 and later to 45 percent to exceed the national average recycling rate of 32 percent.

Planned recycling investments

EGLE already has awarded some of the $15.6 million in grant funding to companies and communities in Michigan this year to help advance recycling efforts in the state.

Houston-based WM is constructing a $35 million recycling processing facility in Detroit and EGLE has awarded WM a $465,000 grant to help advance this facility, which is expected to process up to 40 tons of materials per hour. Once open, WM plans to activate existing transload facilities in several other Michigan cities, including Traverse City, Kalamazoo, Tawas, Saginaw and Lansing.

EGLE also has awarded a $1 million grant to Flint, Michigan, that will help provide free, 96-gallon recycling carts to 34,000 households. The Recycling Partnership, Washington, also has pledged to support the cart project with a $3.3 million grant. According to EGLE, Flint’s current recycling program requires residents to provide their own bin for curbside recyclable materials and most bins used in Flint do not have lids. EGLE says the new carts are projected to increase how much material is recycled in Flint from 624 tons per year to 5,400 tons per year.

EGLE has awarded several grants to the Kent County Department of Public Works for a few projects in Kent County, Michigan. EGLE has awarded $4 million for the Kent County Department of Public Works’ Sustainable Business Park project in Kent and Allegan County, Michigan. The Sustainable Business Park, planned for 250 acres adjacent to the South Kent Landfill in Byron Center, Michigan, will be built on land initially purchased by Kent County to create a new landfill. EGLE’s funding will go toward infrastructure improvements, such as utilities, roads and stormwater to prepare it for tenants.

Also, EGLE has awarded the department a $499,999 grant to purchase baling equipment to direct-bale old corrugated containers (OCC) at its North Kent Transfer Station. EGLE says this investment eliminates the cost of transporting the OCC to another facility to be processed. The department is leveraging EGLE’s grant with $385,001 in federal funds to complete the $885,000 acquisition and installation in the existing transfer station building that is being converted to a recycling drop-off facility. The new drop-off site will improve recycling access, reduce double handling of residential recyclables and reduce operational costs for residential and commercial recycling at North Kent Station.

Additionally, EGLE has awarded the Kent County Department of Public Works with a $406,000 grant to help purchase robotic sorting equipment to automate the sorting line at its Recycling & Education Center, which processes recyclable materials from the greater western Michigan area. The department is leveraging the EGLE grant with $174,000 in federal funding to complete the $580,000 purchase. The technology addresses staffing shortages and the rising cost of temporary labor as well as workplace safety and efficiency issues.

Michigan’s Alpena County has received a $2.7 million federal grant that is supported by EGLE and championed by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow that will help fund the county’s proposed $5.4 million regional dual-stream material recovery facility (MRF). The new MRF will process recyclables from Alpena County and other communities in northeast Michigan. This project received a $1 million EGLE grant in 2022 as well. EGLE says the MRF will serve as a model for rural recycling throughout the state. The MRF will provide the capacity of processing materials from a six-county area. Those materials will be sorted and sold to Michigan manufacturers.

In addition, Detroit-based VMX International has received a $100,000 small business development grant from EGLE to properly recycle and dispose of items ranging from office paper to batteries. The grant supports VMX’s plan to build a $50 million lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Detroit. The building is tentatively slated to open in 18 to 24 months. The facility will separate, dismantle and shred materials using lithium-ion battery recycling technologies, separating out rare earth materials from old batteries that VMX collects.

According to EGLE, the department is awarding several other grants this year to advance recycling efforts in the state that have not yet been finalized.

“These strategic investments by EGLE reflect the commitment of communities across Michigan to finding modern and scalable solutions across our entire recycling system,” says Matt Fletcher, EGLE recycling market development specialist. “It’s critical that EGLE continue to work together with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, our partners in the Michigan legislature, the private sector, nonprofits like The Recycling Partnership, and at the federal and local levels to ensure we achieve our state’s goals for sustainable operations.”