EAST LANSING, Mich.—The Commission on the Environment met in February to discuss the city’s environmental programs, primarily recycling. The commission felt there was more the city could be doing to support better recycling and had many ideas on how to address it, including a new multi-family residence recycling pilot project.
In the city’s Climate Sustainability Plan that was adopted by city council in 2007, recycling is one of the six areas of focus, in addition to yard waste collection, stormwater, construction projects, sewer information and urban forestry.
City council member and liaison to the Commission on the Environment Mark Meadows stated at the meeting, “We need to make this a city event that if we are dedicated to recycling, within this community, that we have to provide all of our residents with recycling opportunities.”
Cliff Walls, environmental sustainability and resiliency manager of East Lansing, also said that he had received a few complaints from residents “that were concerned about the lack of recycling amenities in multi-family apartments.”
The commission is in the middle of approving a pilot project for a multi-family recycling pilot program. This program will be directed towards apartment complexes with 20 units or fewer, as there is no option for them due to the lower number of tenants. Throughout the discussion of this meeting, it was pointed out that there are discrepancies occurring at the city level when it comes to the coding of recycling containers, which leads to some recycling containers not being emptied at apartment complexes.
“There are some inconsistencies in the code as it refers to containers,” said Danielle Beard, vice chair of the commission.
The introduction of this pilot program requires a new subcommittee that will be focused on multi-family homes and apartments, so the process in implementing this new program will not be immediate.
Council member Meadows also stated that personnel may be a limiting factor as to why recycling efficiency in the city may be decreasing. Some suggestions to solving limited personnel shortages included getting Michigan State University students and local businesses involved through volunteering.
“This is a very important issue and it’s been going on for 30 years, so let’s get it taken care of,” Meadows said.
This is not the first time East Lansing has tried pilot projects to improve their recycling efficiency. In the end of 2022, the city launched an initiative t0 reduce contamination in recycling called the Recycling Contamination Reduction Pilot Program.
The project aimed to “improve the quality of recycling in curbside recycling carts by providing residents personalized and real-time education and feedback.” According to the pilot project report, recycling in the area had seen a reduced contamination of 23% and a 45% increase in recycling efficiency.
The new pilot program will hopefully see similar positive results to the commission’s past projects. The commission will continue to supervise the pilot project via updates from the Department of Public Works at the next commission meeting on March 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hannah Community Center.