WWRA Receives Grants, Plans November Foam Collection Weekend
Foam galore! Three dates in November have been selected for foam recycling through the WWRA.
Submitted by Shawn Personke, WWRA PR/Outreach Consultant
Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority (WWRA) was awarded two environmental improvement grants from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the Recycling Partnership.
The first grant provided $458,370 to purchase robotic sorting equipment and a new truck to increase processing and collection capacity. The new sorting equipment doubles the capacity for sorting plastics.
Marc Williams, WWRA facility manager, said that the sorting robot has improved on its accuracy picks per minute over the past month.
“It also has the ability to sort HDPE, NAT, HDPE, MC, aluminum cans, and PET at the same time,” Williams added. “Anything that is missed is picked out manually.”
The second was a $27,382 Michigan Recycling Quality Improvement grant that focuses on decreasing contamination of recyclables collected at the WWRA’s eight bin sites and curbside recycling in the City of Chelsea.
Williams said that the WWRA will perform an audit to find the current contamination rate and what items are causing contamination. The grant also covers educating the public on what should not be recycled.
“After the education outreach is complete, we’ll be able to conduct another audit to see if our contamination rate has been reduced.”
Williams said both he and the WWRA Board are pleased to have the opportunity to improve recycling.
“This grant allows us to continue improving our commitment to environmental sustainability while recognizing the effort in clean recycling throughout Washtenaw County,” he added.
NOVEMBER FOAM WEEKEND
The WWRA will host a fourth Foam Recycle Weekend on November 12–14, 2021.
“After our first three successful weekends, it’s clear that our communities appreciate having the opportunity to recycle #6 foam,” Williams said.
The collection weekends are a partnership with DART Container, a manufacturer of food and beverage packaging items located in Mason, Michigan. Since the first event in June, more than 2,500 pounds of foam have been collected.
Volunteers Bill and Glenna Jo Christen have been instrumental in the success of the project, as they were collecting foam in their garage and then transporting it to Mason for several years.
Through these efforts, Bill Christen has a keen idea of what is and is not considered #6 foam.
"For most of us, it is food containers; egg cartons; cups; packaging that comes with furniture, appliances, computers; and coolers for medicine and Omaha Steaks,” said Christen.
“It is not packing peanuts, the thin, flexible foam sheeting that is used for packaging, foam wrapped in plastic or tape used in packaging, the light blue construction foam that carries the brand name ‘Styrofoam,’ nor the foam that has a layered appearance and does not break or crumble.”
Foam can be transported to the collection site in any container. Volunteers will assist in identifying the foam that can be recycled.
Some items that are not accepted are building insulation boards and packing peanuts. These materials can be taken to Recycle Ann Arbor on Ellsworth.
Hours for the event are Friday, Nov. 12, 11 am to 5 pm; Saturday, Nov. 13, 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, Nov. 14, 11 am to 3 pm.
The foam that DART Container collects through these drives throughout Michigan is sold to other companies that make picture frames, interior molding, pens, rulers, and foam packaging out of recycled foam.
Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority (WWRA) is a not-for-profit partnership of and subsidized by five municipalities (Townships of Dexter, Lyndon, Manchester and Lima, and the City of Chelsea), working together to find alternative ways to handle waste and promote reducing, reusing, and recycling. The townships are served by convenient drop-off centers while the City of Chelsea has weekly curbside recycling pick up. For more information, visit www.WWRArecycles.org.
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