Dearborn evaluates sustainability program options

Thursday, March 11, 2010 | Source: metromode

The city of Dearborn is looking at taking on a number of green initiatives ranging from enhanced recycling to LED streetlights and has six figures worth of federal grant money to get it started.

The city received a $250,000 federal grant (thank you federal stimulus package) last year to determine the feasibility for a number of green initiatives. Those options include possibly establishing a waste-to-energy plant in the city, going to single-stream recycling, and installing LED streetlights.

Only a small part of that $250,000 grant has been used. That grant is also the first part of a $970,800 grant to help implement some of these green initiatives and create a sustainability position in the city.

The waste-to-energy plant isn't your normal dirty Detroit-style incinerator. Dearborn is looking at a gasification plans that doesn't actually burn the refuse. The city is also looking at an anerobic digestor for its sludge waste.

Installing 300-350 LED streetlights in its neighborhoods is another option. LED streetlights, which use a fraction of the electricity and last longer than incandescent light bulbs, are the green cause de jour. Ann Arbor has grabbed numerous headlines with its efforts to install these lights throughout its downtown. Pontiac has also installed LEDs, and a number of other cities such as Ferndale, Wyandotte, and Detroit have toyed with the idea.

Dearborn is also planning to switch to single-stream recycling. That is where recyclers put all of their recycling into one container (no more sorting) and the city sorts it at the recycling plant.

"The money could be used to buy the recycling cars," says David Norwood, sustainability coordinator for the city of Dearborn.

Source: David Norwood, sustainability coordinator for the city of Dearborn
Writer: Jon Zemke