In December 2022, the State of Michigan passed a sweeping eight-bill package that hoped to transform materials management in counties all across the state. According to that new legislature, by January 2024 every Michigan county would be required to develop new materials management plans that shift the focus away from landfill capacity and toward more sustainable methods of composting and recycling.
Jake Borton, director of the Isabella County Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and newly seated member of the HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Cooperative board of directors, has been heading up Isabella County’s efforts in relation to developing a new materials management plan required by the state.
Epicenter: How long have you served in the role of director at the MRF, and what does your job entail?
Jake Borton: A little over ten years now. I handle anything to do with the facility itself. We have four curbside contracts and 11 depots in the county. We’re a full-fledged processing facility, which means we sort materials for further recycling or reuse. There are very few counties that actually run a full-fledged facility, and before long we will have a signed letter of intent to do full materials management planning.
Epicenter: According to a 2017 report from the Michigan Solid Waste and Sustainability Advisory Panel, state funds haven’t been available for new materials management plans since the late 1990s. How has the new State legislature affected Isabella County’s ability to plan?
Borton: Before, with a solid waste plan, you needed to make sure that your county either had a landfill with capacity or you had to garner some other capacity for trash within the county boundaries. The focus was on landfills. In some cases, the plan might address recycling or not, depending on what the county may choose to put in their plan, but the trash was the biggest thing. Previous plans didn’t take much into consideration for composting, household hazardous waste collection, or electronics collections. A few counties had updated their solid waste plans, but like most other counties in the state, Isabella hadn’t been able to update theirs in years and we’ve now been able to update our solid waste plan to a materials management plan.
Epicenter: What is the biggest distinction between the old plan and the new?
Borton: The biggest distinction is in the title itself: materials management. They’re not talking about just trash anymore. You still have to have the capacity for it with landfills, but they really want to focus on recycling. They’re trying to drive recycling rates from the current 19% to about 30% by 2029.
Epicenter: How do they measure those rates?
Borton: By tonnage. There is a law that requires us to report as a county agency. In contrast, the private sector is not mandated to report—companies like GFL, Waste Management, Republic Services, etc. Some may report voluntarily, but being in the private sector, it’s harder for the state to regulate that. By changing part 115 of the law, you’re figuring out a way to get those numbers. So what’s going to happen is there will be more materials being measured so that the state can get the tonnages on material moving throughout the recycling industry.
Epicenter: What are some of the biggest challenges in implementing the new changes?
Borton: One of the biggest things we’re working on right now is that we’re looking to move to a single stream type of facility. Right now we’re a dual stream facility, source separated, meaning in most cases materials are sorted out at the curb. So if a truck is stopping at a house, they’re sorting everything right there, whereas with a single stream system everything is put into one container and brought to the facility to be sorted.
Epicenter: What do you already have in place here that lends itself well to the new legislation?
Borton: The ability to already weigh the tonnage in and report out. We have everything we need for that.
Epicenter: Besides the changes from this most recent state legislation, what does the future look like for materials management in the county?
Borton: Isabella County did a feasibility study within the past few years to assess the ability to upgrade the facility and what it would take to be able to handle more tonnage. I’m especially fired up about finally seeing the state take action towards trying to create a better source for recycling and a bigger focus on that.
Epicenter: What other entities may be involved in this process?
Borton: Isabella County is looking to have a very collaborative effort with several surrounding counties to have a shared materials management plan, and they are leading that charge. By the end of February, we expect Osceola, Gladwin, Gratiot, Ogemaw, and Mecosta counties to sign on as well. We’re still in conversation with Midland and some of the other surrounding counties.
Isabella County Conservation District currently does the hazardous household materials collections, the tire collections, and some electronic waste collections at different times throughout the year, and some of their funding comes from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
The Tribe does a tremendous amount more for the county than many people know. Their 2% funding disbursement that townships can request, for example, has been phenomenal, and I believe to date they are pushing close to $300 million since they’ve started that. Over the last ten years I’ve been here, I’d estimate north of a million dollars just to this department alone.
Epicenter: How does that tribal funding work?
Borton: Each department in the county has the ability to apply for a 2% grant. Entities like the local police force, the county, and the city can all put in for those funds. It goes through the Board of Commission and they rank each one, and then the Tribe makes their determinations. If the township needs road repairs or drain work or if the school districts need certain things, the Tribe will do what they can to help. Environmental issues are huge for them and they really try to lend to things they consider important.
Epicenter: What is your vision for the Materials Management Plan in 2024?
Borton: My vision of this would be at least eight counties, which gives us more access to composting, possible building material reuse facilities. As it stands, most of it goes to landfills now, some of it goes to places like the ReStore, Habitat for Humanity, annual electronics collections, and elsewhere. Our vision is for Isabella County to act as the hub of a regional hub and spoke.
Epicenter: Finally, what makes Isabella County uniquely suited to become that hub?
Borton: We’re right in the middle, so we’re in the perfect place to be the hub. We have the US 127 corridor which gives us trucking abilities and so many opportunities to work with that side of it and make things that much more sustainable. So if another county would contact us and ask, “Where can I take this?” we’d give them all the info so they’re not trying to call a bunch of different places and we can easily direct them to the right resources.
To learn more about recycling, materials management, collection fees, and dates for annual materials pickups for items like electronics, tires, and household hazardous waste, visit the MRF website at https://www.isabellacounty.org/departments/recycling-center/.