Manchester’s recycling costs remaining stable

Although communities across the state, and even elsewhere in Washtenaw County, are facing higher recycling costs that could threaten to make programs more expensive or even obsolete, the Village of Manchester is seeing stable costs through its current program.

“We contract with Modern Waste, which is a smaller company,” explained Jeff Wallace, Manchester Village Manager. “Because they are small, they don’t own a landfill like most of the larger companies, so they actually save money by hand-sorting what goes to the landfills and then recycling as much of what they collect as possible.”

As reported in the Bridge magazine article in this week’s issue, many communities are struggling to pay for recycling after China last year halted imports of recyclables, triggering a global plunge in market prices for paper, plastics and other materials.

Wallace noted that the village of Manchester also recycles a higher percentage of waste than the statewide average of 15 percent, or even the nationwide average of 35 percent.

“Mostly, I think it’s because we’ve made it easy,” he says. “Contracting with Modern Waste, to provide both trash pickup and curbside recycling, was just the right change at the right time. It is convenient and we have nearly every household utilizing the recycling each week.”

Last month, mLive reported that an effort to establish regional recycling in Washtenaw County is being investigated. Two years ago, Ann Arbor shut down its recycling plant due to safety concerns, and the city’s recyclables are still being trucked 250 miles to Cincinnati for processing, according to the article. Several Washtenaw municipalities interested in cooperating in such a venture formed a joint committee last June. If that were to become a county-wide effort, said Wallace, it could definitely change how we do recycling in Manchester.

But at this time, the Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority, in Chelsea, would likely be another local holdout to such a proposal. Currently, according to the mLive article, representatives from Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township, Dexter, Pittsfield Township, Saline, Scio Township, Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township, are participating in the committee. Articles of incorporation have been signed by Dexter and Scio Township; Saline and Pittsfield Township. Ann Arbor is currently considering signing on.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.