HOME Commissioners Departments Committees Services Documents Forms Projects Openings About Us Links			RECYCLING and SOLID WASTE DEPARTMENT Contact Information Phone:  231-882-0554 Email Us Personnel   Mike Fiebing – Coordinator Location / Address Lower Level Government Center 448 Court Place Beulah, MI 49617 Office Hours   Monday — Friday 8:00 a.m. to noon 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Office hours include field work. Please leave a message on voice mail and your call will be returned. Services Offered 24 / 7 Residential Recycling Household Hazardous Waste Collections Electronics, Tires & Styrofoam Collections Community Educational Programs Business Cardboard Recycling Services Green Benzie Business Recycling Initiative Description Benzie County is committed to environmental health through recycling opportunities, household hazardous waste & electronic equipment collections, and educational programs. The Recycling Program provides alternatives to residents and businesses to properly dispose of solid waste and keep it out of the landfill whenever possible. Single Stream Recycling Comes to Benzie County Benzie County’s 24/7 residential recycling program just got bigger & better. In addition to expanding the program to accept more items, you will now be able to put recyclables together in one bin. This is called Single Stream Recycling, a new system to increase the ease and convenience of recycling. We’re making recycling easier for you but there are some guidelines you will need to follow in order for the program to operate in a cost effective manner and keep contamination levels down. If you transport recyclables in a plastic bag please empty the bag so they fall loosely into the window of the bin. Clean tin, aluminum and plastic containers may go in the same bin as paper & flat boxes. You may now recycle all numbers of plastics, not just #1, #2 & #5. Look on the bottom of plastic containers for a recycling logo triangle with a number inside it. There has to be a # inside the recycling triangle printed on any plastic item in order to be acceptable in the bin. The barrel to collect #2 plastic shopping bags is no longer on site. Plastic bags with a # on them may now go in the bin with other recyclables. Once again it is important to place them loosely in the window of the bin. Bags placed in the bin intact make more work at the recycling facility because someone will have to manually tear open each bag so all items can be properly sorted and processed. Here’s what you can recycle together in one bin: Clean tin & aluminum containers All numbers of plastic including plastic bags Paper and flat boxes including magazines & junk mail Aseptic packaging (juice boxes, milk cartons) Polystyrene packaging that has a #6 on it (clean take out packaging, produce trays, cups, etc. Shredded paper and mixed paper can still be placed in the bin inside a paper bag. Plastic bags emptied of its contents and placed loosely in the bin. Tear open your bag and let items drop into the bin. Glass is the only thing that still has to be placed in a separate bin. Please do not put any glass in the single stream bin. This is necessary for proper processing of glass bottles and jars. Glass does not get shipped to the same location as plastic, metal and paper. It must be kept separate and deposited loosely in the glass only dumpster. Bulk Styrofoam will still be collected separately at special collections throughout the year. Everyone is asked to continue using the school cardboard trailers when you have a quantity of cardboard to recycle. Students receive money for cardboard collected at the school trailers. Upgrading our recycling program will increase recycling volumes, reduce waste, cut down on trash disposal cost and save natural resources. You may now recycle more and throw away less. You may contact the recycling coordinator at 882-0554 if you have any questions about the new expanded single stream recycling program. Recycling Sites Almira Township Park on Ole’ White Road Benzonia at Save-A-Lot Shopping Center on US 31 Beulah at Village Municipal Parking Lot Frankfort at 404 Parkview Lane (Industrial Park) Honor at the Road Commission on US 31 Lake Ann Elementary School on Bronson Lake Road Thompsonville Industrial Park on Gallagher Road “Cash for Cardboard” Recycling Program A community program to collect and recycle corrugated cardboard is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at Frankfort High School, Benzie Central High School, Betsie Valley Elementary School and Lake Ann Elementary School. Packaging Corporation of America in Manistee provides the trailers and pays students & community groups $50 per ton for cardboard collected at these locations. Businesses, contractors & residents are encouraged to support the youth of Benzie County by bringing clean, flat, corrugated cardboard to these trailers. It is worth the extra effort to recycle at the school trailers. Shredded Paper Residents and businesses should know about Benzie Organic Solutions (aka “The Worm Farm”) where you can recycle shredded paper at no charge. Call Howard Kennedy 231-383-1980 for more information or drive to the worm farm to drop off your shredded paper. Directions to the worm farm: Take Homestead Road east to Pioneer Road. Go through the stop sign, continuing east on Homestead Road. Turn right (south) at the 6th driveway east of Pioneer Road intersection. 1225 Homestead Road is the street address. Other than the green 911 address sign, there are no other signs to indicate the worm farm location. Pull into the long driveway to the building and drop off your plastic bags of shredded paper. Solid Waste Advisory Committee The Benzie County Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) meets quarterly to address the goals and objectives established in the Benzie County Solid Waste Plan and to oversee the countywide 24/7 Residential Recycling Program. Continuous correspondence and communication is maintained between the SWAC and the recycling coordinator in addition to the regular meetings. The SWAC is kept informed of all activities of the coordinator and of the program. Recommendations of operation are made by the SWAC to the Benzie County Board of Commissioners for final approval and action. See the Solid Waste Adviory Committee Web page. Documents (all are PDF documents) Acceptable Items For Earth Day, Household Hazardous Waste, And After-Christmas Collections Business Recycling Invitation Collections for 2012 2013 Drop-Off Schedule for Benzie County Solid Waste Department Frequently Asked Questions Hazardous Waste Brochure Household Hazardous Waste Collection Statistics Household Savings Recycling Program Brochure What To Do With Unwanted or Unused Pharmaceuticals Related Web Links Earth911.com - Find Recycling Centers and Learn How To Recycle -- Make every day Earth Day Household Products Database - Health and Safety Information on Household Products -- Find out health and safety information on household products you use everyday. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Michigan Recycling Coalition Recycle Recovery -- Grand Traverse Recycling Web site shows their new ‘Take It Back’ Program. Traverse City businesses are signing up to help take back many items. Shoppers from Benzie County may take advantage of this program. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [ Top Of Page ] Note: To view the PDF documents on this page, Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed. If you do not already have it, you can get it free from Adobe. Once installed, simply clicking on the link will bring up the document. Note however that the document will first be transferred to your computer, which can take a while for large documents and/or if you have a slow connection.
Last Revised: 4-27-2013 Four outdoor photos in header© Copyright Captured Moments Photography © Copyright 2005-2013 by Benzie County Government and ATI Consulting. All Rights Reserved.