Ann Arbor, Mich., Considers New Hauling Contract for Recyclables

City officials in Ann Arbor, Mich., are considering a new $11.2 million contract to haul the city’s recyclables to a facility more than 60 miles away in Lansing, Mich. Currently, the city’s recyclables are trucked 250 miles away for processing in Cincinnati since Ann Arbor shut down its materials recovery facility (MRF) more than three years ago.

Groups such as the Sierra Club and nonprofit Recycle Ann Arbor, however, are protesting the move and instead urging the city to fix and reopen Ann Arbor’s MRF. Michigan Live reports that Recycle Ann Arbor has proposed reopening the city’s recycling plant with the help of state grant funding and has invested more than a year completing a plan to do so.

Michigan Live has more:

It’s been over three years since Ann Arbor shut down its recycling plant due to safety concerns, and local recyclables are still trucked 250 miles to Cincinnati for processing.

As city officials consider a new contract to haul the city’s recyclables to a Lansing facility just over 60 miles away, the Sierra Club and others are urging the city to instead fix up and reopen Ann Arbor’s own recycling plant, the Materials Recovery Facility off Platt Road.

Read the full story here.