Beaver Island steps up its recycling game

Recycling doesn’t always come easy on a remote island in northern Lake Michigan. But a grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) will help Beaver Island manage its returnable bottles and cans in a new way.

The $86,000 grant awarded to the island’s two townships, Peaine and St. James, will purchase two “reverse vending machines,” like the kind found in most supermarkets, to accept 10-cent-deposit beverage containers. The machines will be housed at a community-based redemption center at the Beaver Island Transfer Station and Recycling Center, creating Michigan’s first deposit return station not located in a retail store.

“The Beaver Island community is grateful for the actions of EGLE officials in recognizing the complexity and costs associated in managing redeemable containers given our remoteness and our winter isolation,” said St. James Township Supervisor Bobbi Welke, a member of the island’s Waste Management Committee. “We are looking forward to a more streamlined way to manage these containers.”

Beaver Island is the Great Lakes’ most remote inhabited island. But while only about 650 people live there year-round, visitors come by the tens of thousands. Ferries serving the island carry more than 40,000 passengers a year, while two companies offer daily shuttle flights year-round.

Two island businesses accept returnable cans and bottles, often recycling more than they sell. During the winter, when ferry service is suspended, hundreds of bags of containers bound for recycling on the mainland pile up waiting for boat trips to resume in the spring. The new equipment crushes the plastic, glass, and aluminum containers – drastically reducing the amount of storage space needed.

By making container recycling easier and more accessible, the hope is that the new redemption center will significantly boost Beaver Island’s recycling rate. The Waste Management Committee wants to increasing recycling by 45% – an extra 110 tons of materials – by 2030.

Currently, many islanders and visitors throw their returnable containers into regular recycling or trash because returning them for deposit is inconvenient.

The waste committee is working with suppliers to select machines that allow for bulk sorting rather than requiring users to deposit one container at a time. They are also exploring options for how residents will receive their refunds, whether through a ticketing system, electronic payout, or a redemption station staffed during business hours. Additional funding is being pursued for a third reverse vending machine dedicated to fundraising for the island’s school.