History
View our earlier history: 1991-2009
The Switch to Single Stream Recycling:
In late 2009, the WWRA explored options for overhauling its facility, equipment, and sorting system. The WWRA was formed under Public Act 185, which is for the control and collection of solid waste and applies to governmental units. As such, WWRA is not permitted to borrow money for any purposes whatsoever and may only obtain funding by the sale of bonds. The Washtenaw County Board of Public Works worked with WWRA in 1991 and handled the sale of the bonds used to construct the facility. The WWRA would need their support to fund this new endeavor. In order to get their support, the WWRA needed to have a building design as well as equipment designs with estimated costs.
In early 2010, the WWRA Board of Directors authorized the design of a new building. This design would need to house and incorporate the new equipment needed for a single stream system. Fortunately, one of our long-time equipment suppliers volunteered to create the design and obtain estimates from equipment production companies.
The WWRA was also required to provide alternatives to this new plan. This included privatizing the operation, collecting the material to send to an existing single stream MRF, and staying a Source Separated facility. After these options were explored, it was determined that the WWRA should continue on with the single stream project.
In June 2010, a presentation was made to the Washtenaw Board of Public works to obtain preliminary support for the project. Included with the presentation was an extensive report the benefits of the project and downsides of its alternatives. The BPW voted to allow the WWRA to proceed with the project. The next step was to develop a preliminary budget that allowed us to see what the bond costs would be per household. This preliminary budget projected a conservative 25% increase in product load over the first 2 years of implementation, and another 5% increase in years 4 and 5. This timespan was used as assessments are updated every 5 years.
In the Fall of 2010, we started meeting with the member municipalities, each of which had to pass a resolution in support of the project. We also worked on rewriting the Articles of Incorporation to permit 2 types of membership, the first being an Investing Member assisting with the bond payments, and the second being an Associate Member paying only the operational assessment. All member municipality resolutions needed to be completed by April 2011 so the BPW had time to set up hearings for the 2 assessments. During this period, there were numerous meetings with each municipality and lengthy discussions of the need and rational for the project. Unfortunately, of the original 8 municipalities associated with WWRA, only 5 were willing to be Investing Members.
With the 5 resolutions signed, the BPW started scheduling the hearings for the Fall of 2011, with 2 in the North end and 2 in the South end of the WWRA area. These hearings had to be completed before the Investing Members could pass supporting resolutions for the bond and operational assessments. Each of our Investing Member municipalities were initially asked to pass the supporting resolutions in January 2012, which took several more meetings with each municipal board. The resolutions were completed March 2012, and the BPW started the bond sale process.
After nearly 3 years of meetings and research, the bonds were sold in May 2012 and construction of the building started June 2012. Construction of the Single Stream sorting equipment began in June as well. The system was up and running in late November 2012.
Off to a Shaky Start
The first 6 months of 2013 were more difficult than anyone could've predicted. In March 2013, China banned the import of mixed plastics, which had been the main market for this material. Unfortunately, without a buyer, these plastics had to be sent to landfill until we found a new buyer. The new markets started appearing in the summer of 2013 and slowly started to stabilize.
The market prices of products like cardboard, magazines, and newspaper never returned to their Source Separated levels. This is because the majority of the single stream recycling facilities run their equipment at top speed, resulting in contamination ending up in cardboard and paper loads. The WWRA has never run our system at high speed and takes care to ensure our product is clean, making our bales more valuable.
Slowly, we have created relationships built on trust between the WWRA and various recycling mills because of our bale quality. However, bale prices are still low because of losses from the contaminated non-WWRA product they are also purchasing. The WWRA has taken great pride with the fact that our product is considered premium grade material, and we intend to keep it that way.
A Success Story
The initial budget for this new system predicted a 25% increase in intake volume in the first 2 years of operation. In July 2014, just 18 months into operation, the WWRA had seen an increase of 100% versus Source Separated intake volume. Just 2 years earlier, the WWRA had been selling 280 tons of material per month, and we were now selling 550 tons per month. Our reputation as a low contamination facility with premium grade materials continued to grow, making it easier to arrange for product sales and schedule pickups. After the mixed plastic market crash in 2013, we recovered, and were selling plastics to recycling mills by 2014.
The WWRA Today
Our five member municipalities, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Lima township, and Bridgewater all have public recycling drop-off bins available to their residents, and the City of Chelsea has continued its curbside recycling program. We have a business recycling program available, helping companies of all sizes and needs to reduce their waste. We are active on social media, our website, and in our communities serving the same mission as when we were created in 1991: to find alternative ways to handle waste and promote recycling.