Recycling Authority Works Towards New Recycling Center
The Alpena Resource Recovery Facility is a county funded program to handle recyclable materials. The county wanted them to form an authority, and that authority became official last month.
They’re now called Northeast Michigan Materials Management Authority, and there is a representative that is part of it who represents other townships in the area.
“We thought it was a fair distribution, since everyone is involved in recycling, so now we have two from the city, and two from the charter townships because that’s where most of the material comes from,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Cindy Johnson, who is the head of the authority.
They are looking to construct a new recycling facility to allow for a more efficient cyclical process. They are currently in the early stages of putting these plans together.
“We’re raising the funds, we’re about 75% funded for the new building, we’re putting in a couple more applications to help close that funding gap so that we can start building it, but the authority will be in charge of all of that,” said Johnson.
The authority is completely in charge of all the planning for the new building, per the county’s request. Mayor Pro–Tem Johnson says a new recycling center will do great things for the community, including create more jobs.
“In the new facility, we’ll have things on a conveyer where they’re pushing things into bins behind the conveyer that then will bale them, it’ll really make the process easier than what our guys have to do now, it’s really labor intensive,” she said.
The Materials Management Authority is hoping to break ground on the new facility in 2024.
