Holland, Mich. – The City announced it has been awarded two grants to transform its curbside recycling program.
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) and The Recycling Partnership awarded Holland grants totaling $418,832 for the purchase of 96-gallon curbside recycling carts, which will be distributed to the City’s 9,400 residents in 2021. The grant dollars will also support a recycling education and outreach campaign focused on ensuring items placed in the recycling carts are able to be processed and made into new products.
“We’re excited to be partnering with the State of Michigan through EGLE and The Recycling Partnership,” said Aaron Thelenwood, Holland’s Sustainability Coordinator. “Both grant programs are very competitive, and through adoption of best practices and extensive benchmarking efforts, the City’s proposal stood out as a funding priority for both organizations. Even during these economically challenging times the State and The Recycling Partnership saw the great value and clear return on investment in partnering with Holland. These partnerships will be instrumental in establishing the City as a leader in the field of materials management along the lakeshore and across the region.”
The City established a Materials Management Taskforce to identify challenges posed by a changing recycling market to increase recycling participation and landfill diversion. The Taskforce gathered baseline data of the effectiveness of current recycling procedures. These findings led to the decisions to adopt a curbside carted recycling program.
All Holland households will transition from yellow bagged recycling to curbside recycling carts in the first half of 2021, with new collection slated to begin in May.
“The Recycling Partnership is excited to partner with the City of Holland on new curbside recycling carts,” said Jill Martin, Director of Community Programs at The Recycling Partnership. “Holland’s upcoming transition from bagged recycling to recycling carts will expand recycling access for Holland residents and make it easier for them to recycle more, better. We look forward to working with the City to support local jobs, protect the environment, and keep Michigan’s lakes and waterways clean.”
“EGLE is excited to working with the City of Holland and The Recycling Partnership to increase access for residents and create a higher value material by using a more comprehensive approach to curbside recycling for residents.” Stated Jeffery Krcmarik, Recycling Specialist with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
The City of Holland asks that residents continue to do their part by placing only accepted materials in their recycling, including aluminum and steel cans, food and beverage cartons, paper products (including newspapers and flattened cardboard), and empty plastic bottles and containers. To help limit contamination, or trash in the recycling, please give food and drink containers a quick rinse and then place them directly into the recycling —no sorting required.
Some items that cannot be recycled include plastic bags, paper towels, electrical equipment, batteries, Styrofoam ™, and clothing.
For more information on what can and can’t go into your recycling, visit https://cityofholland.com/272/What-You-Can-Recycle-Curbside
About the City of Holland
The City of Holland, Michigan is a vibrant community in a beautiful lakefront setting. It is a world-class city with a small-town feel, making it one of the best places to live, work and vacation. Holland has been recognized by Forbes Magazine and Money Magazine as one of the safest and most beautiful places in the U.S. and was voted as the “Second Happiest and Healthiest Places to Live in America” by Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. In 2015, Holland landed the number three spot on the Livability.com list as one of the “10 Best Cities for Families.”
About The Recycling Partnership
The Recycling Partnership is a national nonprofit organization that leverages corporate partner funding to transform recycling for good in states, cities, and communities nationwide. As the leading organization in the country that engages the full recycling supply chain from the corporations that manufacture products and packaging to local governments charged with recycling to industry end markets, haulers, material recovery facilities, and converters, The Recycling Partnership positively impacts recycling at every step in the process. Since 2014, the nonprofit change agent diverted 230 million pounds of new recyclables from landfills, saved 465 million gallons of water, avoided more than 250,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, and drove significant reductions in targeted contamination rates. Learn more at www.recyclingpartnership.org