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Kerrin OBrien: Recycling waste into future commodities
- Kerrin OBrien talks with Kirk Heinze on WJR
Kerrin O’Brien is the executive director of the Michigan Recycling Coalition. The MRC provides information and resources to Michigan residents and both the public and private sectors to encourage recycling on all levels.
The Coalition promotes recycling to businesses through their Master Business Recycler program. The program provides a manual and training to help businesses integrate recycling habits into their operations.
“We have this waste paradigm where we put it out at the curb and it just kind of disappears,” says O’Brien. “It’s a magical process, and we pay the bill at the end.”
“We are hoping and encouraging people to question where that stuff goes. We’re encouraging them to separate it now so that instead of a waste, we’re turning it into a commodity.”
O’Brien stresses that recycling is essential to ensure a sustainable future both locally and globally. She thinks that recycling can reduce the impact of issues such as resource scarcity and global warming.
“We’re closing the loop. We’re not extracting raw materials from other countries and degrading their environment in doing so,” says O’Brien. “We’re strengthening local economies by keeping our materials here in Michigan”
A big issue facing the recycling industry is how to dispose of e-waste. E-waste is what is generated after the life of an electronic product. The state of Michigan is in the process of implementing a law that requires manufacturers and distributers of electronic products to provide free and convenient recycling for consumers to dispose of their e-waste.
“The challenge is what is convenient,” says O’Brien. “Now producers are kind of circumventing and engaging in contracts for large scale recycling. There’s some challenging issues here in Michigan for that law to have a real impact, but I do see that coming down the road.”
Click on the arrow above to hear O’Brien’s July 30 Greening of the Great Lakes conversation with Kirk Heinze. Greening of the Great Lakes airs Friday evenings a 7 on News/Talk 760 WJR.
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This was a great interview, very articulate with many new insights. Linda Berch, Executive Director Recycle Livingston