MetroCreative MetroCreative Michigan updated its solid waste statute in December 2022. Counties are tasked with developing new materials management plans. Until the plan is updated solid waste management plans remain in effect. Lisa McKenzie, Regional Planner at WUPPDR suggested a multi-county collaborative at Tuesday’s Houghton County Board meeting.

HOUGHTON — Changes to Michigan’s solid waste statute were made at the end of December 2022. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy formed a Materials Management Planning Work group (MMP Work group) that has been meeting for about a year. EGLE plans to utilize this group to help guide counties, specifically their designated planning agencies, through the process to prepare for the initiation of the new Materials Management Planning Program. In other words, every county in the state will have to re-work their solid-waste disposal plans into materials management plans.

At the regular December meeting of the Houghton County Board on Tuesday, Regional Planner at the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region, Lisa McKenzie said that EGLE plans to initiate the changes by the end of this year. WUPPDR suggests that Houghton County become a County Approval Agency for a multi-county materials management program. There are several advantages to implementing regional plans, including economics.

A single county is to receive a $60,000 per capita allocation for each of the first three years. A multi-county collaborative will receive an extra $10,000 per capita.

Materials management aims to be more comprehensive than solid waste programs. Materials management includes managing recyclables, organics, tires, wood, concrete, and other materials considered trash that end up in land-fills.

According to EGLE’s register of materials management facilities WUPPDR’s six county area contains five solid waste processing and transfer facilities, three scrap tire facilities and two solid waste landfills. Comparatively, Marquette county alone, has ten solid waste processing and transfer facilities, two compost facilities, a recycling establishment and a landfill.

Keweenaw County, for example, is experiencing increasing calls for more recycling. In September, retired physician and Copper Country Recycling Initiative member, Doug McKenzie, gave a presentation on the topic to that county’s Board.

Board Chairman Don Piche said at that meeting, that those topics have been discussed in the past, including Keweenaw County’s lack of a transfer station.

According to EGLE, not every county needs a state-of-the-art materials management facility, but every county will need to provide capacity for the materials they are generating. Other benefits of working with other counties include: potential increase in collected materials, increase in recycling access, increase in overall tonnage of materials collected, having a consistent education and outreach program that reduces waste stream contamination, and having more economies of scale and efficiencies in contracting, education, and providing services.

Because Houghton County has the facilities that residents of other counties desire, WUPPDR suggested that Houghton County submit a notice of intent. WUPPDR will then become the Designated Planning Agency, assisting to develop the plan. Under a regional plan participating counties, would benefit from the facilities available in Houghton County.