Landscope: A landfill is born

In this installment of our “Landscope” series, get a bird’s eye view of the “birth” of a landfill in Kent County, Mich.

Opportunity at the trash dumps

(MI) Detroit Free Press – The stunning 16% drop in trash going into Michigan landfills for the year ending last Sept. 30 is as good a barometer as any of how poorly the state fared during that time. Michigan trash alone dropped 13%; waste from outside the state, including Canadian trash, failed to materialize by an even wider margin. And here’s another way to look at the numbers: Michigan’s household trash dropped 11%; the other categories, mostly industrial and construction waste, dropped 19%. Maybe some people are recycling more, but more likely everyone’s simply producing less trash — nowhere as obviously as at factories and construction sites.

Report: Trash in Michigan landfills decreasing

(MI) Detroit Free Press – The amount of trash in Michigan landfills is shrinking. While that might sound like good news, the numbers are so low that state officials warned today it means there’s not enough revenue to cover landfill inspections to make sure they meet requirements. The state’s solid waste tracking and inspection is funded by a fee of 21 cents per ton on the trash that gets dumped in Michigan landfills. More

Bills would allow grass in Michigan landfills

(MI) The Detroit News – After close to 20 years of separating lawn clippings from trash, bills under consideration in Lansing would roll back Michigan’s 1990 yard waste ban in an effort to convert grass to gas. Bills in the House and the Senate would exempt an estimated more than 20 landfills from the ban to increase production of landfill gas, a renewable energy source that can be sold to utility companies. More