I am excited to introduce you to a cool lady who is making a big difference in South West Michigan, she is the one and only Ms. Sarah E. Kelly.

Sarah is the program manger for Calhoun County’s recycling offerings and with the help of partners, county officials and her drive has built up two Mini-MRF’s (Material Recovery Facilities). She is not only changing things in the County, but she also just wrapped up a 5+ year long commitment serving on the Michigan Recycling Coalition’s board of directors and as a part of their executive committee. Undoubtably Sarah is dedicated to making a difference!

You may ask, what does a Mini-MRF look like? Well its easier to tell you what it is not.. It’s not the old standard rural recycling drop-off where you find containers in the middle of a parking lot and it’s not a fully automated recycling materials recovery facility. When you arrive you are greeted by a person, yep a real live person who helps you by inspecting and unloading your materials. As a customer of this recycling center you are informed and sent away with any unacceptable items. From there the volunteers sort the collected items into large bins which are loaded onto a semi-trailer.

In our time together we covered the following topics:

• How the program is funded


• Host Agreements / Budgets


• How much does Calhoun receive from a single semi-trailer of recycling


• Some of the Resident's false beliefs


• Contamination Issues


• Manned site vs. Unmanned site Pros/Cons


• Oops tags at a drop off facility


• And more..

Quick Links:

Calhoun County Recycling

Recycling Partnership

Michigan Recycling Coalition

Sarah's Contact Information:

Ms. Sarah E. Kelly

Phone: 269-969-6395

skelly@calhouncountymi.gov 

www.calhouncountyrecycling.com