Materials management encompasses the strategic planning and oversight of how materials—such as recyclables, organics, construction debris, and municipal solid waste—are collected, processed, reused, or disposed. This approach shifts the focus from disposal and landfilling to sustainability, emphasizing reduction, reuse, and recycling.
Through materials management planning, authorities set infrastructure goals, establish partnerships, and build markets that support circular economy practices while reducing environmental impacts and preserving resources.
EGLE supports counties with guidance, grants, and oversight to ensure materials are managed sustainably, supporting economic development and aligning with Michigan’s Healthy Climate commitments.
Local county and municipal officials often help protect public health and the environment by organizing collection programs that provide for safe disposal of household hazardous waste, ensuring that unwanted toxic, ignitable, corrosive, and reactive materials like paints, cleaners, batteries, and pesticides are safely diverted from landfill disposal and safely disposed as a hazardous waste if recycling isn’t an option.
Check out the the collection contact directory offered by EGLE in coordination with our county and municipal partners. If local contacts for these programs change, please contact EGLE and help us update the directory. EGLE also provides a collection center coordinators resources that is helpful in finding vendor and safety information as well.
Local agencies are subject to most of the same regulations that other businesses are for managing these waste streams. Many of the waste streams are generated during day-to-day operations, focused on providing general services to the community(ies) they serve.
Learn more about the requirements that must be met in managing hazardous waste and liquid industrial byproducts:
A few other helpful resources to learn more include the recorded Waste Webinar Series delivered in 2026 by inspectors sharing their perspectives and the Michigan Guide to Environmental Regulations, Chapter 2, updated in 2026 as well.
EGLE oversees the management of medical waste in coordination with local health department partners. The goal of the program is to prevent the spread of infectious disease and protect those who handle medical waste from exposure to materials that could cause infection. As such, EGLE oversees health care providers from hospitals, doctor offices, veterinary clinics, ambulatory services, and tattoo parlors to name a few.
All medical waste handlers are required to register, create site specific medical waste management plans, and train staff to follow the plan provisions for managing materials like sharps (needles and lancets), blood, body fluid and parts, etc. Learn the basics and more about medical waste by visiting our Medical Waste Regulatory Program webpage.
In Michigan, county-level Materials Management Plans (MMPs) are required under Part 115 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, replacing older waste planning models. These plans require collaboration between county boards, designated planning agencies, and advisory committees to meet recycling benchmarks, develop composting systems, and coordinate inter-county efforts.
Local governments help protect communities by ensuring scrap tires are properly collected, stored, and transported under Michigan’s environmental regulations which ban whole tires from landfills. The law also requires scrap tire haulers and collection sites to register and take specific precautions to prevent fires, illegal dumping, and mosquito‑breeding hazards.
Local governments play a pivotal role in solid waste management by implementing county and multi-county material management plans. This work helps ensure non-hazardous solid waste is properly collected, processed, and disposed, in a manner that protects our public health and environment while also preserving landfill space for materials that cannot be repurposed, reused, or recycled.
The solid waste program facilitates sustainable practices—like recycling, composting, and food rescue—through infrastructure planning, public outreach, and partnerships that support a circular economy and reduce landfill reliance.
Although local government employees when using transport vehicles owned and operated by the county or municipality are exempted from having to obtain a permit and registration for transporting hazardous waste or liquid industrial by-products from EGLE, the transporters hired to assist with these activities are required to have the requisite permit and registration.
Look up who is permitting and registered using the Participating Transporters webpage. Government entities that haul someone else’s waste, like sewer system wastewaters from a system they do not own, would need a permit and registration. Not too, there are additional rigorous requirements in place for transport of these materials over public roadways.
