Curbside recycling officially begins

The Michigan Citizen

Eric T. Campbell

DETROIT — The City of Detroit has announced it will officially begin curbside pickup of recyclable materials in two cluster neighborhoods beginning in July. Activists say that the 30,000 residents who will be served by the pilot program are part of Detroit’s long-overdue arrival at a responsible solid waste practice.

The program, officially deemed Detroit Recycles, is the result of several years of planning by various environmental groups in conjunction with efforts to shut down the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility, otherwise knows as the incinerator.

“We partnered with a number of these groups to have them at the table and be part of the planning process,” says Al Jordan, director of Detroit’s Department of Public Works, which will oversee the curbside recycling program.

What they’ve conceived is a one-year pilot program which will operate in two Detroit neighborhoods, one on the west side and one on the east side, serving 15,000 homes in each. Eastside residents will receive an 18-gallon receptacle, collected manually every week. Westside residents will have a 96-gallon container which will be emptied by city trucks every other week.

All recycled materials will be dumped at a transfer facility and then taken to Great Lakes Recycling in Roseville. Jordan says it’s too early and the program is too small to start looking at recycling as a source of revenue. But the long-term plan includes the receipt of a fair market price for our discarded paper, glass, metal and other materials.

“Right now, it’s not revenue driven, it’s environmentally responsible,” says Jordan. “Any revenue we are able to recover is just a derivative.”

Jordan says that community outreach will be crucial to prepare Detroiters for the July 1 target date for the kickoff of the one-year pilot program. Multiple venues will be utilized to disseminate information designed to get residents prepared to save recyclable materials instead of putting them in the trash.

Detroiters, inside and outside the recycling program’s service area, can expect to start receiving mailers in May and community meetings will convene throughout May and June.

“One of the things we worked on was a brochure to be mailed city-wide with information about what the new solid waste profile will look like,” says Anna Holden of the Michigan Sierra Club.

Sandra Turner-Handy is a former Chief of Staff to State Senator Hanson Clarke and the current Director of Community Outreach for the Michigan Environmental Council, located downtown. Clarke’s district includes the East English Village neighborhood — one of many that will benefit from the eastside pilot recycling program.

Turner says that because of that neighborhood’s experience with a drop-off center located in the area, residents are ready for curbside pickup.

“The neighborhood is excited and aware,” Turner told the Michigan Citizen. “It’ll be a success, especially if the education portion is done correctly.”

DPW Director Al Jordan adds that the pilot curbside recycling program will be enhanced by additional recyclable drop-off centers, increasing the number of drop-off sites from ten to sixteen.

“As a city agency, it’s a really good feeling to implement a program where there’s been this level of demand,” Jordan says.

Incinerator could curb city commitment

“We’re taking a positive attitude — we certainly hope it’s a success,” says Margaret Weber of Rosedale Recycles, who is a core member of the Coalition for a New Solid Waste Program. “But we had hoped for a full city-wide program at this point and we still have not heard a clear policy from the city regarding the incinerator. The incinerator is imperative because you’re talking about the same waste stream.”

Weber says she believes the full $3.85 million budgeted for the curbside recycling program is being utilized, but that the city has still not committed fully.

“We remain concerned that there is not yet clarity about city utilization of the incinerator after July 1, 2009,” Weber stated in an email to the Michigan Citizen. “We continue to press the Mayor to announce a policy of no utilization of incineration of solid waste, but to move aggressively toward a policy to recapture the waste stream through materials recovery, including control of those commodities. That will also create jobs for Detroit, keep the value local, and clear the air for residents’ health.”

Anna Holden of the Michigan Sierra Club agrees that despite the city’s recent responsiveness to recycling needs, there has been a lack of action towards the closure of the incinerator — environmentalists were hoping those two actions would work hand in hand.

“We’re certainly supporting this and doing whatever we can to move it along,” Holden says about the city’s new solid waste profile. “But the city seems to be comfortable with adding recycling but not closing the incinerator.”

This inaction regarding the other looming solid waste issue makes activists like Holden wary of the long-term goals, including the creation of a business sector in Detroit that relies on recycled goods.

“Unless you enter into it with that spirit, you’re not going to attract business,” Holden argues. “We should still be planning for the future.”

For more information on the ‘Detroit Recycles’ pilot program, visit the City of Detroit website and link to the Department of Public Work or call 313-224-3901.