Recycling Report

(CART) grant to help make providing wheeled carts more affordable.

In addition to curbside recycling services, GCMPC hosts several Recycle Day events annually for residents to safely dispose of items like household hazardous waste, paint, tires, and electronics.

Events are typically held at both the Flint Water Service Center and one rotating out-county location such as local high schools on certain Saturdays throughout the year. There are several events held on Tuesdays at Mott Community College which allows residents more opportunities to dispose of their waste. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity, GCMPC also provides a free latex paint recycling program for residents to drop off paint any time they are open. Promoting the programs mentioned above and educating the public about proper recycling techniques is a primary goal for GCMPC. To assist residents in understanding how items can be disposed of in the proper way, staff presents at schools or other local agencies about recycling as well as attends events to pass out information and talk with residents about County recycling programs.

Recycling Current Conditions In Genesee County, there are three residential curbside recycling haulers providing service to municipalities: Emterra Environmental, Republic Services, and Waste Management. The map to the right shows which hauler each municipality currently has a contract with for curbside garbage and recycling services. Emterra and Waste Management provide their customers with 18gallon handheld bins, while Republic provides 65or 95-gallon wheeled carts. Most municipalities negotiate their own individual contract resulting in unique and custom services. Some contracts require residents to opt-in to their recycling service, meaning they can get a designated bin from their waste hauler or use their own so long as it is the correct size and is designated for recycling.

Curbside recycling is typically picked up once weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the contract between a municipality and their provider. The type of service a municipality decides upon is typically influenced by cost. If local units work together on shared contracts, it could lower the

cost of service. However, most communities are not currently sharing this service. There are also grants available to local units such as the Recycling Partnerships’ Cart Access = Recycling Tonnage

Currently, there are no permanent year-round drop-off recycling centers available to residents in the County. However, the City of Flint has a dropoff recycling container behind City Hall for residents to use at any time. Drop-off recycling centers are fixed locations where residents can safely dispose of recyclable items like paper, cardboard, and metal cans. Recycling centers also accept items curbside recycling services do not typically take such as batteries, light bulbs, old computer equipment, and household appliances.

Solid Waste Program Financial Need to 2045 Recycle Day Collection Events Providing Recycling Carts Outreach and Education

Cost $6,812,000 $6,256,300 $9,100,000

Available $5,200,000 $0.00 $3,900,000

Need ($1,612,000) ($6,256,300) ($5,200,000)

Total

$22,168,300

$9,100,000

($13,068,300)

GCMPC receives about $350,000 every year to conduct its solid waste programs. Recognizing there may be gaps in current services, the chart above shows there is a $13 million deficit in funding to conduct needed programs to 2045.

GCMPC also hired a consultant in 2019 to do an evaluation of the County’s waste management system. This evaluation will potentially provide recommendations on additional solid waste services that could be implemented in the County if additional funding were available such as a county-wide drop-off recycling center.

According to the 2019 Genesee: Our County, Our Future survey totaling over 1,000 respondents, the two most popular answers for ways recycling collection can be improved were to open a dropoff recycling center and provide a larger curbside wheeled cart. Similarly, when asked what ways their community can improve in disposal of waste, respondents cited collecting household hazardous waste and providing special collection events as their two biggest concerns.

Recycling Participation Survey In 2019, GCMPC conducted a survey throughout all communities within the County that utilize curbside recycling services. Only the Villages of Lennon and Otter Lake do not utilize any type of curbside recycling service as of 2019. This survey was done to gauge the rate of participation

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throughout Genesee County. Understanding participation rates provides an analysis of what types of services are the most effective, as well as determines where recycling services and education may need to be improved. Gathering this data also assists staff in better understanding how recycling participation has changed in the County over time.

To conduct this survey, staff first confirmed which recycling provider each local unit has a contract agreement with before researching pickup schedules and when pickups occur. To gauge recycling participation in each community, staff conducted a windshield survey of how many houses utilize recycling services based on a sample size.

Staff visited each municipality on its designated recycling pickup date and began collecting information from at least two randomly generated addresses. From a starting home, 10, 15, or 20 homes were surveyed, totaling between 20 to 80 sample houses per community.

Communities with higher populations received larger sample sizes to gain a more accurate understanding of their participation.

Overall, data gathered from the field survey shows a community’s utilization of recycling services is greatly impacted by the type of receptacle given to them from their waste hauler. Of the places using

wheeled carts, 69% of residents utilized their recycling services on average. Roughly a 30% increase from those provided with handheld bins as shown in the infographic to the left. When looking at recycling participation by waste hauler, the graphic above shows that Republic had the highest participation at 60%. This is most likely due to Republic providing wheeled carts to most of the communities it has a service contract with. Mundy Township and the City of Linden displayed very high rates of recycling participation, at 83% and 90% respectively, as shown on the map to the right. These communities are both provided with 65 or 95-gallon covered, cart receptacles for recycling, whereas communities with smaller, handheld bins continually exhibited participation rates averaging below 50%. Despite almost every community in Genesee County having some form of curbside recycling, total recycling participation is just above 50%. When recycling participation rates were compared to average household income, higher income communities generally had higher rates of recycling participation compared to lower income areas. Similarly, most of these higher income areas used covered, wheeled bins as their receptacle.

Recommendations Based on the 2019 Recycling Participation Survey, staff found that many communities are doing well at providing residents with accessible recycling options. However, there are still communities that could take steps to enhance recycling participation. To improve services, local units should consider the following: • Negotiate contracts that include 65 or 95-gallon wheeled carts • Increase education efforts for residents on what can and cannot be recycled through programs such as GCMPC’s Educational Recycling Presentations, websites, social media, and flyers • Seek opportunities to share waste hauler contracts with adjacent communities to lessen the total cost of service • Consider recycling grant opportunities such as The Recycling Partnership’s Cart-Access = Recycling Tonnage (CART) Grant

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