KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP (WKZO-AM) — Kalamazoo Township’s board members are proud of their pioneering efforts when it comes to taking out the trash.
At this week’s regular meeting, they adjusted next year’s cost for single-source waste hauling for homeowners from $60 to $62 and extended their contract for single-stream recycling. Both are innovative ways to handle a municipality’s trash, that they were among the first to adopt.
Trustee Steve Leuty said it all began about 30 years ago when they were first to introduce curbside recycling to the region in a pilot project.
He says separating the recyclables from their trash was something that was only done at the time by “California hippies,” but soon everyone in the township was clamoring to have it and offering to pay extra to get it.
It has since become a common service in the region.
Now both Portage and Kalamazoo are also taking a look at single-source waste hauling and single stream recycling as methods to cut customer bills and reduce truck traffic on local streets.
They are seeing how it works in the township first.
