The site for the new Sands Township Recycling and Transfer Facility is seen. The space was cleared in the beginning of November and is ready for groundbreaking in the spring. The station will be ready for public use by October of next year. (Photo courtesy of Sands Township)

MARQUETTE — According to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy, Michigan’s residential recycling rate is an estimated 14.5%, ranking it lower than any other Great Lakes state and one of the lowest in the nation, and Marquette County has a recycling rate of about 8%.

To increase recycling rates, a new transfer station and recycling facility will be ready for use by Sands Township residents next October.

The new facility will be located on the same property as the current township hall at 987 M-553, south of the playground. The estimated total cost of the project is $614,000. Funds for the new facility come from a Michigan DEGLE grant in the amount of $221,328, while the remainder will be covered by the township’s general fund.

Glass, metal and trash will all be accepted at the indoor facility, said Sands Township Zoning Administrator Randy Yelle.

“There will be six different roll offs,” Yelle said. “They’ll be one for glass, two for single-stream recycling, two for solid waste they bring in right now and one for tires. They’ll be another area for batteries that type of thing, so it will be a lot more efficient.”

According to a Sands Township newsletter, the roll-off bins will be lower than the platform users will be on while disposing of waste and recyclable materials. Users and their vehicles will be inside the facility during drop-off, which will keep them and recyclable materials safe from exposure to the elements, Yelle said.

“It being inside, there’s far less chance of it being a contaminated load,” he said. “Once we get up to the transfer station if our recycling fiber is contaminated then we have to put it into the landfill where this here being inside is far less of a possibility of contamination from water, rain, snow and stuff. Right now, we have two roll-offs outside for recycling and that’s a problem. They get wet ,and then, of course, it’s a contaminated load.”

The current recycling facility is located at 78 Flodin Road south of the Crossroads and offers two large, covered roll-off containers for rigids and fibers and a transfer station for the drop-off of larger materials. Beginning Dec. 1, new fees will be implemented for the current transfer station ranging from $5 for a couple small items and $25 or more for trailer-sized loads. Fees are based on volume and estimated weight. There is no fee for metals or recycling.

“As far as the people of Sands Township, they can bring in anything other than household waste,” Yelle said. “We have pick-up of household waste at their home, but this is anything like tires, wood, couches, chairs, fencing, that type of thing, that they drop off at the transfer station. Anything that isn’t household waste, like I said, we pick up household waste curbside.”

Yelle hopes the new location of the transfer and recycling facility will increase township recycling participation by reducing the distance township residents must travel to recycle.

The Sands Township newsletter also states that the relocation of the facility will bring “recycling and trash drop-off about four miles closer to the majority of our population, but it also puts most of our township buildings on the same property.”

The new facility will also help cut down on some of the township’s current expenses and better prepare Sands for the growth in recycling that’s expected with the Marquette County Solid Waste Management Authority’s switch to single-stream recycling and glass processing in fall 2020, it said. The facility will also house the township garbage truck, backhoe and other equipment. The plan also includes an outdoor compost area with the goal of creating an end material that residents can use for gardening.

Groundbreaking of the new facility is slated for spring 2020.

The township plans to sell the buildings and property where the current facility sits to help offset some of the cost of the project.

“Eventually, the thought is that that property where the old transfer station is now in the old town hall, we’re looking at possibly splitting that and zoning it commercial and putting that up for sale once we get everything situated,” Yelle said.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206.