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Here's what's just ahead on "Pressing Matters."

(graphics whooshing) Instead of putting everything in the trash, you recycle.

Then what happens?

In Michigan, the answer likely differs for many.

Coming up, we take a look at two of the more common recycling systems in Michigan to show you what happens to all that plastic and paper.

Plus boosting the state's recycling numbers that goes beyond the consumer.

We take a closer look at the efforts to include manufacturers in the recycling process by becoming more sustainable and reducing waste.

(upbeat music) - [Bryan] We're recycling because they know it's the right thing and environmentally, socially, and economically, it's the right thing to do.

- Reduce, reuse, recycle.

It's a simple phrase that in theory makes a lot of sense, but the process behind it can be a bit more complicated.

Welcome back to "Pressing Matters."

With public health concerns growing over the impacts that pollutants like plastic and other waste have on people and the environment so too have efforts to increase recycling participation.

According to the very latest numbers just released, Michigan's recycling rate is the highest it's ever been around 23%.

State officials say Michigan is on track to reach its goal of 30% by 2029.

Meanwhile, the national recycling rate is 32%.

Now, there are many factors that play a role as we learned, recycling, just like operating a landfill, is a business.

In Michigan, it is cheaper to dump waste in a landfill, but that decomposing garbage sends heat trapping methane into the atmosphere.

According to the EPA, those municipal landfills are the nation's third largest source of human induced methane emissions.

And when it comes to recycling, there is no universal policy or practice for people to follow.

What can be recycled and what can't also varies between counties, townships, and communities.

For most of Michigan, the main types of recycling processes can be boiled down to a dual or single stream system.

Now the difference is either all recyclables are collected together or separated between paper and cardboard and containers.

As we learned, there are pros and cons to both systems.

(graphics whooshing) When it comes to recycling, most of our knowledge about what happens to the items, we recycle stops once we get it out of the house.

Now, for those that recycle, we know haulers come and pick it up, or you take it to a nearby collection site.

But then what happens?

For most, it's trucked to a materials recovery facility, also known as MRF.

In Michigan, those types of facilities use either a single or dual stream process to collect, sort, and eventually ship materials to product manufacturers.

Both system use a network of conveyor belts, sorters, and even robots.

(machine whirring) Emmet County Recycling near Harbor Springs uses a dual stream system.

It's a sprawling facility known by many in the industry as the gold standard of recycling.

- Emmett County Recycling is unique and we are dual stream, not a lot of facilities around our dual stream, and that has changed over the last 10, 15, 20 years.

You used to see a lot more dual stream systems.

Dual stream is a little bit more challenging on the collection end, so we have to have trucks with two separate compartments.

Residents have to have two different bins at their house.

We feel strongly that it's the way to go because of contamination.

- [Stephanie] Contamination is what happens when you mix all recyclables together.

Think plastic, paper, aluminum, and cardboard into one bin.

Unrinsed or wet materials can leak onto paper and cardboard or recycled paper bales may have pieces of plastic in it, reducing the overall quality.

Everything that's recycled comes to the facility already separated before being sorted and processed.

But it's tricky because not everything that comes to the line is recyclable.

- So our sorters pick out any garbage, anything bulky, and anything dangerous.

So unfortunately we actually see needles, and sharps, propane tanks, stuff like that.

Things that we do not want on the recycle line.

So our sorters are responsible for picking that material out.

So even just asking residents to think a little bit about where what goes in their bins really helps reduce our contamination.

A lot of single streams are, everything goes in the bin, don't worry about it, we'll take care of it later.

But that leads to a lot of contamination.

And the other reason that we feel strongly about staying with dual stream is because of the financial value of it.

You can kind of see behind us, we sort all of our recyclables into different bales.

Each bale is marketed and sold to a factory that makes it into something new.

Dual stream is much, much cleaner than single stream.

So there's less contamination in the bales that we are sending to the factories, which means the factories are paying us a higher value.

- [Stephanie] Emmet County Recycling makes money by selling sorted and repacked recyclables like plastic, paper, and cardboard back to manufacturers.

- As Emmet County, we have a reputation for having good material.

So a lot of where our material goes is built on relationships.

So we do have someone in our office.

Part of her job is to maintain and build and find those relationships with the end markets.

She works with them.

Sometimes if we have a load that's not perfect, they'll call her, and they'll have a discussion about what they wanna see different or what they're looking for.

95% of the material that we accept here is sent to Michigan factories made into new products in Michigan.

And so that's another thing that makes us unique is we always strive to be highest and best use.

There are a lot of places where we could send our stuff and it could be used for fuel, used for incineration, used for daily landfill cover, but we really try hard to make sure that all of our materials are made into a new product that contribute to the circular economy.

- [Stephanie] Reusing materials over and over again is crucial.

Manufacturers are also taking notice.

You see it in the goods they produce where they're advertising using recycled materials to make their products.

- Manufacturers are doing their best to meet those goals, but actually in Michigan, like Cleantech where we send our plastic water bottles, they aren't getting enough material.

They're having to actually bring material from other states, because there's not enough in Michigan being recovered right now.

So that's definitely a big gap is there's an opportunity for more material to be recovered in Michigan.

The end markets, the factories, they're looking for more material.

- [Stephanie] Ann Arbor recycles is also looking to fill that gap using their single stream process.

Now, they weren't always a single stream processor.

- So they went to a two stream system in the late 80s, early 90s went to a two stream system.

The participation was hard that way.

And that stayed through most of the 1990s until the mid to latter part of the 1990s.

Then it was clear the city was asking people why they didn't recycle, and why they would recycle.

And more convenience is what they were after.

The single stream system looks more like the standard, throw it in the cart kind of a system.

So they moved then to a single stream system, and that was brought on mostly by convenience to the public, and then efficiencies in collection.

'Cause you could put it all together and compact it together and bring it to a facility.

- [Stephanie] Ann Arbor Recycles, CEO Bryan Ukena says, "Moving to a single stream system where haulers don't need to separate recyclables led to more participation in the program."

He credits their team of employees who make it run as smoothly as possible from collecting to processing.

- So when they get here, they get tipped or dumped on the floor.

The loader operator that you saw, Brian, he mixes it into the right recipe, the right amount of cardboard, right amount of containers and so on.

Then he loads it onto a conveyor and then it gets sorted by material.

- [Stephanie] And again, advanced technology, including robots and tools like an optical sorter, are helping the recycling industry become more efficient alongside the employees on the line.

- [Bryan] That's a very specialized job sorting those recyclables.

If you try it for a few hours and you see what it takes to actually do that.

These are very professional people and they have a certain hand-eye coordination and have skills that it's very important that they are able to maintain.

So the less you can burden them, the more accurate they can get and the safer they can do it.

- [Stephanie] While the two systems are different, both operate with the same goals in mind.

Dual stream may cost more on the front end, but produce a cleaner product at the end of the line.

Single stream costs less on the front end, but by being able to collect more and sort at the facility, they're able to sell more back to manufacturers.

Ukena says, "That what matters most is really just taking apart in the process in whatever way works best for you."

- You know, everyone has a little bit different motivation for why they recycle.

And so it's a big thing for people.

You know, it's like, I can't buy an EV car, I can't put solar panels on my roof, but by God I can recycle.

And that's something I can do every single day.

And as I do that every day, I know I'm doing good.

- Now, as you heard, sorters often come across dangerous items like lithium batteries.

Those are not recyclable at the curb and they're extremely flammable.

Some places, including Emmet County, collect them separately.

A good idea is to check your closest recycling center website to see what you can and cannot drop off.

Now Isabella County is one area that is working on transitioning from a dual stream to a single stream.

Isabella County Recycling has been a dual stream system since inception.

Director Jake Borton tells us, "Haulers say logistically it makes more sense to pick up all the materials in one container versus having to sort it."

Borton says, "Research indicates making the switch would allow them to take in even more recyclable materials that they can sell back to the manufacturers."

- Our biggest reasoning for being able to, or looking at moving to single stream is volume.

If we're gonna make a commitment to continue to do this financially as a county, we need to be able to have volume to do that.

And to be able to have that volume the major haulers are gonna be part of that.

The feasibility study that we had done in 2001, give us the indication that there is the possibility that we could go from where we're at now at about 6,000 tons a year to upwards of about 25,000 tons a year.

- [Stephanie] Borton says, "There is no definitive timeline, but hopes the transition will be complete in the next couple of years."

(graphics whooshing) We've talked a lot about recycling and what happens to it after we take it to the curb, but what about plastic producers.

In recent years, efforts are increasing to have manufacturers play a bigger role in boosting recycling numbers and reduce landfill waste.

So to learn more about that, we have Kerrin O'Brien in our studio to talk about the Extended Producer Responsibility Policy.

Now, Kerrin, you are with the Michigan Recycling Coalition.

- Yeah.

- Tell me a little bit about your role there and the role of your agency.

- Yeah, and so I am the Executive Director of the Michigan Recycling Coalition, which is a statewide recycling organization, a membership based nonprofit association and advocate for recycling.

So we really started out in 1982 with recycling professionals as it was just growing.

You know, the first kind of the beginning of recycling these professionals came together to say, "Let's try to work collectively to advance recycling."

And so that's what we've been doing for the past 42 or so years.

And we have an annual conference every year, and in recent years we've been really working on policy because that's where the action really needs to take place.

- Well, and so speaking of the policy, one of your priorities right now is EPR, which is of course Extended Producer Responsibility.

What exactly is it?

- Yeah, so Extended Producer Responsibility is a way to make producers responsible for some aspect of the end of life costs of their products.

Producer responsibility is happening in Europe, in Canada, in India, in many places around the world, frankly.

And it is a way, well, how it manifests is that producers of consumer goods and paper products, newspapers, cups and glasses and bottles, the stuff you see in your recycling bin.

- [Stephanie] So real quick, it goes beyond plastic?

It's- - Oh, yes.

- It's paper, it's cardboard, it's, okay, collect.

- Yes, it's your basic consumer goods, like I said, what you're throwing away in your garbage, what you're putting in your recycling bin.

And so whether or not those materials are recycled, the producers of those products would pay per item into a fund.

And that fund then would be used to pay for recycling across the state.

And so thereby reducing the financial burden of that kind of programming on local governments and taxpayers.

- Learning more about recycling, I'd never heard of EPR and it really sounds very interesting.

But how do you define a producer?

What are they- - The producers are really the brands.

And so, you know, in Michigan we have a bottle bill, so we're not talking about Coca-Cola or Pepsi, because those are taken care of through a different system.

But we are talking about in Michigan specifically, Kellogg, we're talking about cereal boxes.

We're talking about, you know, sauce jars, and pickle jars, and soup cans, and laundry detergent jugs.

So we're talking about the stuff that we use in our households every single day.

Whether or not those materials are recycled, those producers, those brands, many of them would have to pay into that fund.

- Are there any incentives or penalties to help, you know, with compliance for producers?

- So the fee, so this is a fee, for example, if we're talking about a ketchup bottle is like 0.001 cents per ketchup bottle.

And if that ketchup bottle is made from recycled content and is recyclable then they're paying the lowest fee.

If that ketchup bottle can't be recycled or there's some problem with that, they would pay a much higher fee.

You know, 0.10 cents instead of 0.001, we don't know exactly what those, you know, figures are going to be, but we're talking about very, very minute amount of money per item.

Probably wouldn't affect the consumer cost.

- This has to be a tricky question, but how might this be enforced?

- Yeah, that is a tricky question.

And frankly, as we're talking about legislative language, it's probably gonna have to be enforced at the Attorney General level, state of Michigan.

Because if you have one producer refusing to pay, then you have to hold them accountable.

And how you hold them accountable is to say, "Sorry, you can't sell your products here in Michigan if you're not willing to pay into our system."

- Myself included in this next question.

We all wanna feel like we're doing our part to better protect the environment.

So how could EPR help with that?

- So in reality, Michigan as a state really just started to seriously invest in recycling in recent years.

You know, in the 80s and early 90s we had a big bond effort to get some recycling started, but that was a moment in time.

In 2018 was the first time we passed regular annual ongoing funding for recycling through the legislature.

So it's only been in the past, you know, six years that we've tried to fund something in a meaningful way.

But if we are really to develop a circular economy and do things differently, the investment has gotta be much more significant.

- Yeah, so what about costs?

Could we see an increase in prices for certain products in recycling?

How might that work?

- Yeah, you know, I think of it as a much more equitable way to spread the cost of end of life management.

The end of life management of materials is really invisible to us.

The stuff that gets picked up at your curb, you don't see again, it's not my problem.

- [Stephanie] Right.

- It goes away.

But there are costs to society for that, landfills leak, have problems, nobody wants them in their backyard.

So, and frankly, we can use those materials much more productively over and over again.

If we had a system in place to put them back into the system.

The costs on that one product, if you're not buying that product, you shouldn't have to pay for disposing of that product.

And so this is a way of internalizing the lifecycle cost into that product.

So if you're not buying it, that's not included, but if you are buying it, it's included in the cost of the product.

- Got it.

- But like I say, we're talking about really small costs per item that add up into, you know, so eventually that cost would be counteracted by the fact that you don't have to pay for recycling services.

- [Stephanie] Let's talk about job opportunities.

Could there be more jobs, job creation within the recycling and waste management system that could come from this?

- Most definitely.

The kind of waste, recycling, reuse economy is very significant.

I believe $33 billion annually in Michigan is generated.

And there's some big numbers behind that.

It rivals tourism in Michigan if you really dig down into it.

And it's an invisible industry.

And so if we really are investing in a significant way to assure that all Michiganders get the services and access they need to really pull materials outta households and from businesses, and put them back into businesses, because frankly, these businesses want that material back so they can make new products.

That is their motivation.

If they're gonna have to be, you know, on the hook for this kind of commitment, then they want that material back so they can use it again.

- Right.

And I think that's almost a selling point too, to a lot of products that you see that, oh, you know, this is a plastic cup, but hey, we use recyclable materials to make this product, right?

- Yes.

- And so, like as a consumer, you're like, "Okay, so something was done with the environment in mind, I guess, right?"

- [Kerrin] Yeah.

And if you think about it, all of the plastic that has ever been produced on this planet since it was invented is still here with us in some way.

Big forms, teeny little forms.

And it is becoming a human health and environmental hazard.

And so the plastics industry is really hyper aware of this fact, and they know their liabilities could grow if they don't find a way to harness and use that material over and over so that we don't have these problems in the future.

- [Stephanie] Right.

And that's a really good point.

You're seeing a lot more articles about microplastics showing up in people's blood work.

I mean, they're so tiny.

People are eating them are, you know, animals are eating them and ingesting them.

So you're right, you're right, you're absolutely right.

You mentioned earlier, there are other states, other countries that have implemented EPR type policies.

Do you know what kind of results and challenges that they might be seeing with that?

- Yeah, so I was recently traveling to Vancouver to learn more about the British Columbia system, which is the first system in North America to take on EPR.

And they have I think a recovery rate well over 70%.

They've invested heavily in the system.

They're now beginning to track all the different types of plastic packaging that are out there so that they can advance the system.

You know, we've got all those poly coated bags now that we can't recycle here yet.

But with their kind of work, we're figuring that out.

They are one of the systems in Canada that has what is called a full EPR system.

That is the producers pay for all of recycling, whereas other parts of Canada, it's partial.

So government pays for part of it, producers pay for part of it.

Canada is moving, many of the provinces are moving to that full system, so they can have better programming, because you just have to invest.

So they're sold on it and they're going in deeper.

- Speaking of Canada, - Yeah.

- [Stephanie] Michigan still takes in a lot of trash from other states and Canada.

So could EPR change that?

- EPR is not likely to change that immediately, but I will say that in 2022, we led an effort to change Michigan and solid waste laws.

And those solid waste laws were really predicated on making sure we had enough disposal capacity.

And if a county didn't have disposal capacity, then they had to make way for the development of disposal capacity.

And that policy- - What's the disposal?

- Disposal capacity is like a landfill.

- [Stephanie] Okay, that's what, I just wanted to double check.

- Yep, so if your landfill didn't have 5.5 years of disposal capacity, then you had to make way for the development of additional capacity.

And unfortunately, that policy was very successful in developing lots of disposal capacity in Michigan, which artificially lowers the price of disposing here.

And that's part of our issue is that we're cheap.

Landfilling is cheap here in Michigan.

It's hard for recycling and composting to compete.

25% of our waste comes from out of state and it needs to change.

So the policy change that we did in 2022 is gonna slowly turn that boat, and we're gonna probably lessen the expansion of landfills.

And that will help in that way.

- Yeah, this was really interesting.

And thank you for all you do, and thanks for making the trip up here today.

- [Kerrin] Thank you.

(intense upbeat music) - Governor Whitmer says she is committed to making recycling easier and more effective.

Studies show in Michigan more people recycle than vote, showcasing the importance of the issue here in the Great Lake State.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you again soon for another edition of "Pressing Matters."

(light upbeat music)