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Michigan DEQ Task Force Rethinking Trash Rules

Recycling
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Plans are getting underway to send less trash to landfills in Michigan and find more ways to reuse it.  A state Department of Environmental Quality task force plans a hearing today in Lansing to gather ideas from the public.  

The Solid Waste and Sustainability Advisory Panel released its draft recommendations last month. The group will use the public comments to fine tune its proposals before sharing with the DEQ director.  People can also submit comments online

The DEQ’sRhonda Oyer says it’s the first big rethinking of Michigan’s solid waste policies in 20 years. 

“Rather than looking at sort of a disposal system where the material is just thrown away, put in a landfill, what is the highest and best use of that material where we look at reutilizing that material rather than just disposing of it.”

Sean Hammond of the Michigan Environmental Councilserves on the task force.  He says the idea is that a lot of what is currently tossed out as trash be converted to a new use, composted, or recycled into energy or new products.   

“So it’s not waste anymore, but a lot of it has value. Your yard waste has value as compost or in anaerobic digestion or your recycling has value in terms of making new products.”

Hammond says that will require rethinking how trash is collected and redistributed afterward.  Another task force named by Governor Rick Snyder is focused specifically on recycling.  

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— Rick Pluta is the Managing Editor and Reporter for the Michigan Public Radio network.  Contact WEMU News at734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org

Rick Pluta is the managing editor for the Michigan Public Radio Network.
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