76 - Pictured is a rendition of the glass repurposing system to come to the Marquette County Solid Waste Managment Authority with their switch to single-stream recycling. The single-stream system is set to go online in October.

MARQUETTE — Individuals from a number of Marquette County’s 22 municipalities have voiced their concerns regarding the financial plan for the Marquette County Solid Waste Management Authority’s switch to single-stream recycling.

Funds to cover the cost of the roughly $6.3 million recycling project come from a $3 million interest-free loan from the Closed Loop Fund and an $800,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. A conventional loan covers the remainder of the cost.

To repay the interest-free loan, tipping fees were increased at the landfill by $6 a ton last November, making it a total of $57.50 per ton.

However, there are concerns about how the conventional loan will be repaid.

During the Dec. 11 meeting of the MCSWMA’s Board of Trustees, Sands Township Supervisor Darlene Walch addressed the board during the public comment portion of the meeting about the municipalities’ concern that “if recycling revenue is not sufficient, then repayment (of the conventional loan) will fall into the hands of the municipalities by way of increased tipping fees,” board documents state.

“The concern is that if it doesn’t go according to plan, who will be covering the remainder of the cost? And most of the municipalities just want to have a solid idea of what we’re looking at regarding financing for the project,” Walch said in a phone interview with the Journal. “It’s not that they’re necessarily opposed to the projects, it’s just that they really want to know all of the details behind the financing and that basically was the essence of the question. We understood the grant and the loans and everything else but on the outside chance that it didn’t work, what was the backup?”

In a phone interview, MCSWMA Board Chairman Randy Yelle stated that the backup plan for financing the recycling project would be to pose to municipalities increased tipping fees or the opportunity to pursue the Urban Cooperations Act.

Ultimately, municipalities could choose if they would like to increase their tipping fee or have a fee per household to pay back the loan, explained Bill Nordeen, who serves as the MCSWMA’s attorney.

An email explaining the backup plan was sent to the Marquette County Townships Association following the meeting, officials said.

“We are very confident we aren’t going to have to go there,” Yelle said. “There was three years spent in the research on this with a firm from downstate. And they gave us the numbers at the very bottom end of the recycling program and we do have that financial plan in place.”

While Yelle doesn’t believe either option will be necessary, he noted that Marquette County currently has the lowest tipping fee in the Upper Peninsula.

Documents from the authority state that Ontonagon County’s cost per ton is $100 including environmental and fuel charges; Menominee County’s is $120 per ton including environmental and fuel charges; Wood Island, near Munising, is $80 per ton; Dafter’s in Chippewa County is $110 including environmental and fuel charges; Hiawatha Shores in Schoolcraft County is $120 and Delta County’s is $58 per ton, but was equal to Marquette County last year at $57.50 per ton.

“If you don’t count that $6 a ton to pay for going into single-stream recycling we’re lower than anybody. With that $6 a ton we’re equal to the next lowest one which is Delta County. But Delta County does not provide the services that Marquette County does,” Yelle said. “I mean we provide the services on tires, household hazardous wastes, batteries. Delta County doesn’t do that, so we’re getting a lot more involved than they are and we’re right at their tipping fee now. We’re equal to them including that $6 a ton to pay off the Closed Loop Fund. We’re doing really well.”

Though the county’s tipping fee is lower in comparison, fee increases are still a concern to municipalities because they must balance their budgets accordingly, Walch said.

“Tipping fees are one piece of a municipality’s entire budget but if you have to raise your cost in one area you have to compensate for it elsewhere,” she said.

Tipping fees are based on waste per ton brought to the landfill, so theoretically municipalities will pay less in tipping fees the more they recycle, Walch said, and the push to educate residents throughout the state on recycling is necessary, she added.

“Personally, I think that the landfill authority and especially the landfill director, have done very well trying to get recycling into our lifestyle,” Walch said.

Walch believes the authority has put together a plan to ultimately extend the life of the landfill by increasing recycling participation and education, but thinks the plan to pay back the conventional loan with recycling revenue is a “leap of faith,” she said.

“There comes a point almost with any business plan where you have to have a leap of faith and say: ‘We planned it to the best of our abilities.’ And now we have to take this next step and it may not be 100% guaranteed and it’s almost like any big decision you make in your life,” Walch said. “At some point, you have to take that leap of faith and go for it and do the best you can and adjust as you go along.”

This “leap of faith” is the source of municipalities’ concerns, but the switch to single-stream will benefit the municipalities and the landfill in the long run, she said.

“The ultimate side benefit of recycling is that the landfill life is extended and that also is to everybody’s benefit because of the way environmental rules and regulations are,” Walch said. “To try and get a new landfill is going to be very costly. Economically, our best bet is to extend the life of the current landfill and one way to do that is through a really good recycling program.”

With state regulations and cost, a new landfill isn’t a feasible option, so extending the life of the current landfill is necessary, Yelle said.

“Without recycling, we’ve got about a 50-year life of the landfill left. With recycling we increase that about 10 to 12 years per fill, so I mean, we’d be looking at a big increase,” Yelle said. “Also, whatever you bury in the landfill, that’s a lifetime commitment, you have to monitor that forever and ever. Whatever we can keep out of the landfill, it’s not only cost-saving of extending the life of the landfill, but its cost-saving the long-term maintenance that has to be done after a landfill is closed. It’s a big deal.”

Yelle stated he is confident that recycling revenue will be sufficient enough to pay back the loan and noted that MCSWMA Director of Operations Brad Austin already has buyers lined up to purchase the single-stream product.

During the last meeting of the MCSWMA Board of Trustees, the board unanimously approved the extension of Austin’s employment contract from Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2025, with a 2.5% increase each year after a 360-degree annual evaluation by the board, haulers, municipalities, himself and others.

“I am very honored to present Director Austin with this authority-approved, renewed contract. During Director Austin’s tenure as the authority director, (Austin) has performed his duties in a professional manner; he has met and exceeded my expectations from when I first recommended him to fill the director position, to which the authority board agreed and Austin was appointed as the director of operations,” Yelle said in an email. “There has been no looking back. Single-stream recycling, as well as glass repurposing, should be up and operational by October of this year. We are also looking into addressing the long-term issue of controlling leachate. Director Austin is instrumental in raising our landfill to a unit that the authority, municipalities and residents should be proud to have operating within the county of Marquette and the U.P. of Michigan.”

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.