$6.3M regional recycling facility to serve rural Michigan
Summary
Marquette has worked with Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the last year to find the funding opportunities. There was a lot of material we felt we could capture and put to market.” After conducting a study with a local media outlet, the county learned there was “overwhelming” support for a single-stream recycling system. “Materials were collected on alternate weeks, so paper and fiber products are collected one week, and plastic and metal on alternating weeks.” A key part of obtaining the funding was the county’s approach to building a “regional recycling facility,” which will be operated by MCSWMA and will serve Marquette County’s 65,000 residents and potentially the region’s 200,000 residents. I think it was also appealing to Closed Loop because we’re trying to make an impact beyond our county.” Plessisville, Quebec-based Machinex will supply the equipment for the plant, including a sorting robot. “One of the largest components of the education campaign is getting people to understand that because of our distance to markets, in order to recycle glass, we’ve decided to repurpose it locally,” Austin says.