<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1MDeJ1_0vLVgQEO00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1MDeJ1_0vLVgQEO00" width="650" height="433" ><figcaption>Seth Pratt (left), Manistee City Council member; Jim Grabowski, mayor pro tem; and Erin Pontiac, council member, participate in a Sept. 3, 2024 city council meeting. (Kyle Kotecki/News Advocate) </figcaption></figure> MANISTEE — While Michigan legislature is expected&nbsp;to make it mandatory for many municipalities to offer curbside recycling to its residents in the coming&nbsp;years, <a href="https://www.manisteemi.gov/" rel="nofollow"> city of Manistee </a> officials are exploring ways to handle residents' cardboard recycling needs in the meantime. Most recently, residents were able to take their cardboard to Manistee Catholic Central. Jeff Mikula, <a href="https://www.manisteemi.gov/157/Public-Works" rel="nofollow"> Manistee Department of Public Works </a> director, said during a city council meeting Tuesday that the city's partnership with&nbsp;MCC eliminated about $14,000 in cost for recycling for the city. "They had a <a href="https://www.packagingcorp.com/" rel="nofollow"> PCA </a> trailer that they actually would receive revenues from and they were able to use it on their students for various activities," Mikula said. "... Obviously we know that <a href="https://www.manisteenews.com/news/article/mcc-set-close-school-year-19394170.php" rel="nofollow"> MCC closed </a> , so that option went away for us. Since then we <a href="https://www.manisteenews.com/news/article/manistee-s-commingle-container-moves-new-location-19523373.php" rel="nofollow"> relocated the&nbsp;commingle trailer over to what we refer to as our cold storage area off of Veterans Oak Grove Drive </a> , and then we've been researching how to solve the cardboard issue." Mikula said one option is implementing curbside recycling now before the state makes it mandatory. "If we did it citywide and <a href="https://www.republicservices.com/" rel="nofollow"> Republic (Services) </a> would pick those up — (it'd be) up to council but it could be a biweekly or monthly basis — we requested those quotes from Republic quite a few months ago," he said. "... We were hoping to get those numbers back and we were hoping to be able to put that into the choices for council. My belief is that Republic has all these communities now asking for quotes, so they're being inundated by that." City manager Bill&nbsp;Gambill said he expects to receive a quote within a few weeks. "I did meet with them last week and they did commit to having it to us by the end of the month, so the thought was we would talk about it here today a little bit and then we'd come back in October with a quote and finish the discussion," he said. Mikula said Gambill spoke with PCA representatives who said they were willing to let the city use a trailer for cardboard. "They would allow the city to have one of those trailers as long as we donated the revenue that's generated from that back to a school," Mikula said. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1jXlQR_0vLVgQEO00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1jXlQR_0vLVgQEO00" width="650" height="404" ><figcaption>The city of Manistee relocated its commingle recycling container to Veterans Oak Grove Drive on the north end of the city. (Courtesy photo/City of Manistee) </figcaption></figure> Mikula said either the trailer or dumpsters for cardboard could go next to the commingle recycling at the cold storage area, but that would not be without challenges. "The concern is ...&nbsp;MCC attracted people from well beyond the city limits. In fact, at least half the phone calls that we get at our office saying, 'Hey, where do we take that cardboard?' — they don't live in the city," he said. "...&nbsp;MCC was a solution for a big region here. So because that cold storage area is not fenced in, it's not controlled in any way, our concern is we would end up with abuse and that we would have a lot more problems than what it would solve." An alternative location would be the DPW yard, Mikula said. "That yard is fenced in, it's got a gate so it's secured after hours, but what we've been discussing internally is paying an employee to be there on Saturdays," he said. "... We could control, we could check addresses, we could educate what materials are recyclable, what materials are not, ... and then also we could help people and train people to kind of stack that trailer." Council member Wesley Smith said he felt the cardboard trailer should not be located&nbsp;where it can't be supervised. "I don't think there's any way we can not do it and have it not fenced in," he said. "I think it'd be a wise expenditure of employee wages. ...&nbsp;MCC is still a disaster. .. It has to be fenced in and it has to be manned by an adult." Mikula agreed. "I think city residents are going to treat this more responsibly, but I still think we need to control it," he said. "... I think it's important to check addresses because residents are paying for this service. But I also think being able to answer questions and help educate the public on what they can recycle and what they can't, I think that's very useful, too." </div></body>

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Manistee City Council talks cardboard recycling options

\"I don't think there's any way we can not do it and have it not fenced in.\"

"I don't think there's any way we can not do it and have it not fenced in."