Sarna Salzman, founder and executive director of the Traverse City-based nonprofit organization SEEDS, was elected chair of a tri-county Materials Management Planning (MMP) committee consisting of Leelanau, Grand Traverse, and Benzie counties.
The MMP committee looks to manage waste to prevent harm to people and the environment. It will also provide funding for recycling and diversion initiatives. District No. 5 Commissioner Kama Ross and Planning and Community Development Director Gail Myer represented Leelanau County at the MMP’s first meeting Friday.
All Michigan counties are required to have an MMP by law since 2023, but counties can also work together through interlocal government agreements like this one. The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners approved the agreement in June.
Also in June, Leelanau County agreed to contribute $2,500 to set up the MMP if needed. Grand Traverse and Benzie counties would contribute $10,000 and $2,500 respectively.
These contributions may or may not be necessary, however. Grand Traverse County Resource Recovery Director Lydia Gulow said that the three counties are eligible for $277,755 annually to set up their MMP.
In any case, the committee will determine exactly how the MMP will be funded through a work plan due Jan. 13. This document will also include plans to reduce waste and increase recycling over the next three years. It is also required to have “baseline data,” like current disposal and recycling rates, to show progress towards those goals.
The MMP committee is currently waiting on documents and templates from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to develop this work plan. EGLE previously published a template, but it has since been removed from their website for revisions. The MMP committee will start defining its processes in the meantime while waiting.
MMPs were introduced into law in Part 115 of the Natural Resources & Environmental Protection Act, which works towards EGLE’s goals of “increasing material management opportunities across Michigan and achieving carbon neutrality in 2050,” according to a presentation by Gulow.
During the MMP committee’s Nov. 8 meeting at the government center in Traverse City, its members also:
• Elected Mathew Cook, who fills the role of regional planning agency representative as a community planner for Networks Northwest, as MMP committee vice chair.
• Directed Grand Traverse, Benzie, and Leelanau County staff to prepare a request for quotes or request for proposals for hiring a consultant to assist in developing the work plan, to be approved at the MMP committee’s next monthly meeting.
