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Kent County DPW outlines education limits and new outreach ideas to bolster recycling
Summary
Kent County Department of Public Works told the Materials Management Planning Committee on June 18 that tours consume most staff time, school outreach reaches about 13% of schools, and staffing and facility access limit in-person tours; the department proposed videos, advertising and volunteer support to expand reach.
At a June 18 meeting of the Kent County Materials Management Planning Committee, staff from the Kent County Department of Public Works outlined the department's education and outreach work and limitations, noting that facility tours account for roughly 60% of staff time and that the program currently reaches about 13% of schools in the county.
Matt McPherson, Emma Dillman and Micah Herrboldt presented the program to the committee and described core activities: regular facility tours, school presentations, tabling at community events, and open-hours at the Recycling & Education Center that attract about 650 visitors weekly on Mondays. Herrboldt also noted his role as a county coordinator for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Green School initiative and described partnerships with the Kent District Library for outreach and SafeChem education materials.
Staff told the committee they receive 50 to 100 calls per day about recycling and that two staff members currently conduct tours and speaking events; overall outreach is supported by the equivalent of about three full-time positions including overtime. Because of physical constraints at some facilities—in particular limited safe viewing access at the Waste-to-Energy plant and South Kent Landfill—staff said they cannot substantially increase the number of in-person tours even if more staff were available.
Committee members and staff discussed alternative ways to increase public reach without more in-person tours. Suggestions included producing short wayfinding and virtual-tour videos (one aimed at North Kent), targeted advertising such as bus and billboard placements, expanded social-media promotion, printed materials and magnets for tabling events, and creating a trained volunteer network to help run tours and represent the department at community events. John Gorney offered to share a podcast episode produced with American Public Works as a potential outreach channel; Mayor Stephen Kepley mentioned online games used by other agencies as an engagement tool.
Staff also described recent website changes and current public information channels: the county moved from AccessKent.com in 2025 and now uses reimaginetrash.org and kentcountymi.gov/publicworks, along with quarterly newsletters and social accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Reddit (TikTok is not used per county policy). Presenters emphasized that education alone is unlikely to solve recycling-rate challenges and that outreach should be one element among policy, infrastructure and convenience improvements.
Because a quorum was not present, the presentation was for the committee's information and no formal actions or votes occurred. Committee members asked staff to continue developing a plan for videos, volunteer deployment and partnerships and to bring cost and staffing implications to a future meeting.
