WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - The question about whether the city of Warren will be able to dump yard waste including grass clippings in another Detroit suburb is drawing attention to the need for more compost sites in Michigan.
The state Department of Environmental Quality has about 120 registered compost facilities that vary in the amount of yard waste they can hold. Under state law, yard waste cannot be put into a landfill or burned in an incinerator unless under specific circumstances.
"I think it is a growing concern, especially for the metro Detroit region," Kerrin O'Brien, executive director of the Michigan Recycling Coalition, told the Detroit Free Press. "This is an issue that's been going on for years."
State legislators have formed a composting work group in Macomb County to find short- and long-term solutions. The DEQ also has a compost facility work group to develop recommendations on improving how compost facilities are located and overseen.
"The crux of the issue is, regionally there is not the capacity at the existing facilities," said Tracy Kecskemeti, MDEQ's district supervisor in southeastern Michigan for the Office of Waste Management and Radiological Protection.
Warren sought a new place to deposit yard waste after a court imposed a limit on the amount allowed at Uni-Dig in Macomb County's Clinton Township.
A possible new site could be on 20 acres of a closed landfill in Macomb County's Washington Township that's owned by the South Macomb Disposal Authority, of which Warren is a member, authority attorney Jack Dolan said. The township's planning commission is to discuss the issue Thursday.
The site is near a lake and land township Supervisor Dan O'Leary said is being proposed for high-end homes.
"The composting issue, it's a very legitimate one," he said. "We have to find a place for this stuff to go and everybody wants it in somebody else's town."
Published: Wed, Jul 08, 2015
