By By BOYD NUTTING / Niles Daily Star
NILES – To Henry Valkema, every day is Earth Day. Valkema is the president of Michiana Recycling and Disposal Service, and as leader of local service, he is looking to the future when it comes to helping the environment.
Michiana Recycling is currently in the final stages of constructing a new recycling system at their facility on Reum Road, just outside of Niles. Valkema is excited about the revolutionary new way he has come up with dealing with his customers' recyclables and he sees the new system as the wave of the future.
A little over a year ago the company started a monthly curbside recycling program, but it was somewhat inefficient because it took two trucks, one to pick up the regular garbage and one to pick up the recyclables.
"We were trying to save fossil fuels, and cut down on pollution and help the environment, but it took two trucks to do that," said Valkema, a self-proclaimed fourth generation garbage man.
Starting this year the program was revamped so that one truck could pick up both the regular trash and the recyclable materials on the same day. Now recycling is offered weekly.
Also different is the fact that the customers don't have to separate the recyclables. Instead, the items are all put into the same bag, and then separated at the company site. Before, customers put the items in separate bins and if it rained or was windy, things got messy.
Now customers can put everything in the yellow bag that the company provides, and the items are separated by employees at a new large building recently erected on Reum Road. Each customer is provided a 30-gallon bag with instructions on what items can be recycled. The company also provides special green bags for yard waste, which by law is forbidden to go into the landfill.
At the 18,000 square foot recycling center, the trucks back into a large bay and dump their load. The yellow bags as well as any other recyclables are then separated by manual labor. "It's a really tough job, very manual intensive," said Valkema. "The guys are bending down all day and pulling out the bags and cardboard. A lot of guys try it, but they just aren't tough enough."
Soon, however, the trash will be emptied onto a large conveyor belt where it travels past a series of 14 sorting stations where the employees will separate the items. It is then hauled to a processing center where items are recycled.
Among the items Michiana Recycling accepts are newspapers and brown paper bags, corrugated cardboard, colorless bottles and jars, aluminum cans and No. 1 and No. 2 plastic bottles and jugs.
"The way we do recycling is good for the ecology and the economy," said Valkema, explaining that they will have to hire 10 more employees.
"Recycling builds jobs, not landfills," he added.
"Last year we kept about 16,000 tons of trash out of the landfill," he estimated.
"It's just the right thing to do," he added.