Emmet County, Michigan, receives funding from The Recycling Partnership

Emmet County, Michigan, receives funding from The Recycling Partnership
<![CDATA[

The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, had agreed to provide seed money for the purchase of 7,000 residential recycling carts if Emmet County, Michigan, could raise funds to cover the balance of the cost. Thanks in part to a grant the county received from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, as well as funding from 16 other sources, the county was able to meet this requirement, and cart distribution will begin the summer of 2016.

“According to The Recycling Partnership, we’re the only one to fund our carts this way,” says Elisa Seltzer, director of Emmet County’s Public Works Department. “We were going to just expand to a few of our curbside communities first, but they said they’d give us the money if we can hand them out to everyone.” 

The grant dollars will assist Emmet County with purchasing new recycling carts for the communities of Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Bear Creek Township, Little Traverse Township and Resort Township. Additionally, the county will receive assistance with a customized public education campaign and with technical planning to support the cart deliveries to its 7,000 households. The participating communities will maintain their dual-stream recycling system with the conversion to carts. The carts will hold paper, boxes and bags, while existing totes will hold bottles, cartons, jugs and jars, according to a news release from The Recycling Partnership.

Jeff Meyers, The Recycling Partnership development director, says, “Emmet County originally applied for a 2015 cart grant to transition two of their five communities with curbside to carts. Though they were not selected in the first round, they still had a great project. When some additional grant money opened up, we approached them with an offer of funding and a challenge to fundraise from local companies that use recycled materials. This project is a great example of when the recycling supply chain comes together to make change, everyone wins.”

Emmet County joins seven previous communities that have received cart grants, including Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Richmond, Virginia. While The Recycling Partnership says each engagement is unique, they share the goal of improving access to convenient recycling and strong outreach for residents, resulting in more recovered tonnage for manufacturing feedstock.

“I am extremely encouraged by the results to date from The Partnership’s city engagements and have high hopes for the future of the Emmet County program,” says Stephen Sikra, materials science and technology manager at the Procter & Gamble Co. “The county successfully recovers a diverse mix of recyclables, including plastic films, and increasing the curbside recycling capacity through carts is a best management practice worth supporting.”

Megan Daum, vice president of sustainability for the Can Manufacturers Institute and chairman of The Recycling Partnership, says, “As a founding member of The Recycling Partnership, The Can Manufacturers Institute is proud to support this work in Emmet County. It is a unique partnership story that highlights the power of relatively small grant dollars to leverage dramatic improvements in curbside recycling. We look forward to celebrating a successful cart distribution with the Emmet County and the recipient communities this summer.”

]]>
Source: Recycling Today
Emmet County, Michigan, receives funding from The Recycling Partnership
<![CDATA[The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, had agreed to provide seed money for the purchase of 7,000 residential recycling carts if Emmet County, Michigan, could raise funds to cover the balance of the cost. Thanks in part to a grant the county received from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, as well as funding from 16 other sources, the county was able to meet this requirement, and cart distribution will begin the summer of 2016. “According to The Recycling Partnership, we’re the only one to fund our carts this way,” says Elisa Seltzer, director of Emmet County’s Public Works Department. “We were going to just expand to a few of our curbside communities first, but they said they’d give us the money if we can hand them out to everyone.”  The grant dollars will assist Emmet County with purchasing new recycling carts for the communities of Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Bear Creek Township, Little Traverse Township and Resort Township. Additionally, the county will receive assistance with a customized public education campaign and with technical planning to support the cart deliveries to its 7,000 households. The participating communities will maintain their dual-stream recycling system with the conversion to carts. The carts will…