recycables - WKTV Journal

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

Spring cleaning is what many have been doing as the weather warms up to summer. Now the question is what to do with all that stuff?

The City of Wyoming will be hosting its annual Community Clean-Up event on June 4 at the Grand Rapids First parking lot.

Well the City of Wyoming will be helping out its residents once again with the return of its popular Community Clean-Up Day which is set for Saturday, June 4. The event will again take place in the parking lot of the Grand Rapids First, 2100 44th St. SW. It will open at 8 a.m. with participants encouraged to be in line by 1:30 p.m. to drop off items.

The traffic flow will have cars entering Grand Rapids First through the right lane of the eastbound 44th Street. Once in line, drivers should follow the directions to the northeast entrance off 44th Street.

An array of unwanted items will be accepted such as recyclables, scrap metals, and car batteries. Items NOT accepted are household hazardous waste; kitchen garbage; liquid latex paint; seal drums; liquid, biological, radioactive waste; propane tanks; refrigerants; and explosives.

Yard waste may be dropped off at the Yard Waste Drop-Off, which is located at 2600 Burlingame Ave. SW. The facility will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. The facility is also open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday – Friday. Yard waste should be sorted by leaves and grass and brush pile.

E. Martin Hennings (American, 1886–1956). Two Summer Riders, c. 1930s. Oil on Canvas, 30 ¼ x 30 ¼ inches. Bank of America Collection.

At the Community Clean-Up event, there will be a fee for some items. While tires are $10 each, mattress or box springs are $15 each, tube and televisions that are 27 inches or smaller are $20, and tube televisions 27 inches or larger are $40.

To participate in the Community Clean-Up event, and to use the Yard Waste Drop-Off, residents must provide proof of residency which can be a photo ID, utility or credit card statement or bank statement within the last 90 days, a mortage, lease, or rental agreement, insurance policy, an issued license, or a Michigan vehicle registration.

The city started its Community Clean-Up in 2016 and it quickly became popular with the event averaging at least 300 vehicles coming through and disposing of items.

For more information about the Community Clean-Up Day, visit www.wyomingmi.gov/cleanup. For more tips on waste and recycling, visit Kent County’s ReimagineTrash.org.

UPDATE: The Kent County’s Recycling & Education Center is now open and processing recycables as of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22.

Kent County’s Recycling & Education Center experienced a mechanical malfunction in the baler that caused the facility to shut down. During this time the Recycling Center is unable to accept recyclables placed at the curb for pickup by waste haulers.

“Despite having preventative maintenance programs and dedicated maintenance staff, there are always going to be things that happen to the equipment that are outside of our control. Sorting equipment in these state-of-the-art processing facilities is dependent on all pieces working together,” said Darwin Baas, Director of Kent County’s Department of Public Works, an enterprise fund of Kent County that owns and operates the facility. “The baler is a critical piece of equipment in our system and we are unable to run for any length of time without it.” Residents and businesses are encouraged to hold off placing recycling carts out for service for the next couple of days in anticipation of the facility being able to process recyclables again at the end of the week.

Currently between 1,000 and 1,250 tons of material is awaiting processing on the ‘tipping floor’, where waste haulers dump recyclables that will be processed once the plant is back up and running. Kent County is working closely with two different companies to assess the baler repairs and establish a timeframe.

Haulers that normally deliver recyclables to the Kent County Recycling & Education Center are being redirected to Kent County’s Waste to Energy Facility, about a mile away, as of 2 p.m. today.

“Sending recyclables to the Waste to Energy Facility is not ideal. Sending recyclables to Waste to Energy is a much better alternative than landfilling. We can extract the energy, generate electricity and feed that back into the grid for productive use,” noted Baas.

While the Recycling Center is down the service fee for haulers tipping recyclables will be waived.

Kent County DPW will post updates on the progress of the electrical repairs on its recycling website, www.recyclekent.org.