Recycling Facility to Get $4M Upgrade

Mike Csapo, general manager of the Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County (RRRASOC), delivered some good news to Hills officials at Monday night's City Council meeting, and not all of it involved the community's high recycling rate.

Csapo said he had just received word that FCR Recycling is making $4 million in private-investment improvements to the RRRASOC material recovery facility in Southfield.

"The plant's capacity will increase, and employment at the plant will triple," he said.

The project upgrades the dual-stream facility to single stream, which means all recyclable materials—paper, cardboard, certain plastics, household scrap metal and glass—will be separated at the plant, rather than by residents before pickup. Businesses will also be able to drop all their recyclables into one container for collection, Csapo said.

The equipment has been ordered, with installation slated for this fall. "We should be up and running in July of 2012," Csapo said.

He also brought good news about 2010 recycling in Farmington Hills, where residents and businesses recycled or composted 8,400 tons of materials, diverting them from landfills. Csapo said the year's diversion rate tied with 2009 as the highest in the city's history.

Hills residents kept more trash out of landfills than any other RRRASOC community, he added.

"RRRASOC communities tend to perform pretty well, so you're the best of the best," he said.

Attendance at hazardous waste collection events remained high in 2010—so much so that the authority has moved , to , Csapo said.

Farmington Hills also spends more than 40 percent less than the average RRRASOC community on solid waste collection, he added.

"I would count 2010 as a very successful year for the community," Csapo said.