Lansing kicks of f three new pilot recycling programs

Bill Leech has a simple philosophy when it comes to recycling.

“Anytime you can save something andsomebody can recycle it, I think it’s a splendid idea,” the, owner ofBill Leech Repair Service, 2017 E. Michigan Ave., said.

Leech’s business is one of almost 90participants in a single-stream recycling program the city of Lansingstarted in August that aims to do for businesses what the year-oldresidential cycling program has been doing for homes.

The business has been using the programto recycle everything from computer paper to plastic bottles and cans.Leech said the biggest benefit of the program is the convenience of nothaving to go out to the dumpster to get rid of a lot of trash. Instead,he can put it in the recycle containers in his own building, take it tothe street and know it will be taken away.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I think it’s a good program. I think everybody should do it.”

The business pilot program, which opensLansing’s single-stream recycling program to businesses in downtown,Old Town and Michigan Avenue, is just one of three new pilot programs.The other two will be announced Thursday. One will place recyclingcontainers on public sidewalks to encourage recycling for people on thego. The second will replace a neighborhood’s 13-gallon recycling binswith 96-gallon carts to allow families to recycle even more than theydo already.

“People want to recycle at home, theywant to recycle at work, they want to recycle on the go,” said LoriMiller of Capital Area Recycling and Trash. “It’s the complete package.”

Lansing switched to single-streamrecycling a year ago, transitioning residents from a seven-streamrecycling model, said Chad Gamble, Lansing’s public works director. Theold system limited the amount of recyclables residents could disposeof. It also added time to CART drivers’ routes since they had tomanually sort each household’s bin into a compartmentalized truck.

A single-stream system allows for morecommodities, such as different numbered plastics, small appliances andglass, to be recycled. It also eliminates sorting making it easier forresident, Gamble said.

Since switching to single-stream,residential recycling has increased 41 percent, Gamble said. Theprogram’s success encouraged CART to increase its recycling services,which led to the pilots.

Even though the program is new, Miller said the response to the business pilot has been very positive so far.

“The first couple weeks I think weaveraged it out that they were setting out about 35 pounds of recyclingper business,” Miller said. “I think that’s pretty successful.”

A unique aspect of the program is thefree waste assessment offered for participants, Miller said. Theassessment includes a walkthrough of the business, which is designed tofind areas where materials can be eliminated or reused further to lowerthe amount of waste generated. About a third of the businesses havereceived an assessment so far.

“I did a waste assessment for a business that had a bigtrash dumpster and they were getting it dumped three times a week,”Miller said. “We were estimating that they could at least go down toone or maybe two dumps a week. They’re paying every time that trashcompany comes and dumps it so that’s a real savings for (the business)using the recycling program because a lot of the stuff in that dumpsterwas recyclable.”

Gamble said the recycling program helpsbusinesses save money by reducing the amount of waste in dumpsters ortrash bags. He said about 80 percent of materials are recyclable, whichcan help a business reduce costs by purchasing a smaller dumpster orreducing the number of trash pick-ups.

LeRoy Harvey, recycling coordinator forMeridian Township, said Meridian is watching Lansing’s program to seeif it could implement something similar for businesses.

“Meridian is excited about this pilot effort that Lansing is doing,” Harvey said. “We want to learn about how it goes.”

 Meridianhas a single-stream recycling program for residents, but there is noprogram for businesses, Harvey said. The closest thing the townshipoffers is a Green Star recognition program, which recognizes businessesthat regularly recycle two items or make efforts to conserve resources.Harvey said about 100 businesses are Green Star members.

 “There’s still a lot of opportunity for businesses and households to reduce waste,” Harvey said.

Granger, the company in charge ofMeridian Township’s trash collection, chose to switch to single-streamrecycling for the same reasons Lansing did, said Tonia Olson, directorof governmental and community relations at the company. 

Single-stream makes recycling easier,but there are some trade-offs, Olson said. While collection costs havedecreased, processing costs have increased because materials have to besorted in order to make new products.

“Recycled products are a commodity, theydo have a price,” Olson said. “When things are co-mingled as they arein single stream that means that it’s a little more difficult to pullthem apart to make more products. It’s like a recipe. If (the product)requires No. 1 plastics then you only want that.”

However, Olson said the advantages ofsingle-stream recycling, such as added convenience and an increase inaccepted materials, outweigh the disadvantages. 

Lansing’s recycling success inspiredanother pilot program, replacing the standard residential 13-gallonrecycling bin with a larger 96-gallon cart, Gamble said. The samecost-saving benefits for businesses also apply for families, he said.The more you recycle, the less waste collection you have to pay for.

“People have been noticing they’rerecycling more than they’re throwing away at this point,” Miller said.“If they’re using the service and they’re recycling everything theycan, that’s the shift — they have less trash now and more recycling.”

About 300 homes in a neighborhood near Tecumseh River Road in northwest Lansing will participate, Gamble said.

The third program will place a total ofsix public recycling containers in downtown and Old Town for people touse on the go, Miller said. The program is similar to Michigan StateUniversity’s set-up, which couples recycling containers and garbagecontainers to encourage people to recycle what they can.

“It’s kind of new territory for us,” Miller said. “We’re not sure what to expect.”

The environmental benefits of therecycling program are already being realized, said Taylor Heins,director of Lansing’s Go Green! Initiative. The current residentialprogram helped Lansing recycle over 2,400 tons of materials in lessthan one year.

“That, combined with our other energy reduction measuresin city buildings, saved 30,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions (lastyear), which is huge,” she said. “We’re expecting that number to go upsignificantly now that the businesses are involved.”

According to CART’s website, for every1,000 tons of recyclables collected, 14,903 trees, 6,404,606 gallons ofwater and 408,412 gallons of gasoline are saved.

“The more we take in the more resources we’re saving,” Miller said.

Each pilot program lasts six months andis funded entirely through grant money from the U.S. Energy Departmentas part of the Obama administration’s Recovery Act of 2009. Ifeverything goes well, the city could potentially start a citywide rollout by the spring.

“It really is the natural progression of this program,” Gamble said.