The City has been awarded two complementary grants: the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) Recycling Infrastructure Grant and the Recycling Partnership Residential Curbside Recycling Cart Grant. These grants provide the opportunity to enhance curbside collection of recyclables through the implementation of recycling carts at no cost to City residents. The project includes universal/automatic distribution of carts, which will provide a recycling cart to every residential household that is eligible for garbage service. For the City to receive the maximum grant amount, each house will need to utilize carts for recycling.

The total budget for the project is $355,200 which includes $344,000 for the acquisition, assembly, and distribution of RFID-enabled carts and $11,200 for education and outreach. The EGLE Recycling Infrastructure Grant and the Recycling Partnership Residential Recycling Cart Grant will provide $251,000 and $93,000 for the carts, respectively. The Recycling Partnership Residential Recycling Cart Grant will also provide $6,200 for education and outreach and the remaining $5,000 in the education budget will come from the existing City Solid Waste Fund budget. Grant proceeds are paid on a reimbursement basis, meaning that grantees must make the initial purchases. The grant stipulates that the carts must be provided at no cost to residents other than the standard solid waste or recycling service taxes or fees.

The City solid waste collection program has over 50% of residents utilizing the cart system. The carts that are being supplied by the hauler are from Cascade Cart Solutions of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Staff recommends waiving the competitive bidding process for this project. Purchasing the carts from Cascade will allow parts for repairs to be interchangeable. Competitive bidding is not required by the grant and Cascade is a Michigan product that staff is already familiar with.