Board seeking grant to improve recycling

The Laketown Township Board of Trustees on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, unanimously approved the application for a $100,000 reimbursement grant to help cover possible expanded recycling services.

The grant comes after a survey of township residents showed respondents wanted expanded recycling opportunities and rolling carts to replace the yellow bag system now used by Republic Services, the township’s waste hauler. The yellow bags can rip, contaminating recyclables with garbage bound for the landfill.

“Over the past several months, staff have gathered community input, researched alternative recycling options, and explored potential grant funding to improve Laketown Township’s recycling system,” Deputy Clerk Zoey Hallam wrote in a memo to the board.

The survey appeared in the fall newsletter mailed out in September and on the township’s website at www.laketowntwp.org. The township also met with homeowner associations in several neighborhoods that have unique needs for waste hauling and recycling.

The state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Recycling Infrastructure Grant would reimburse the township $100,000 for an upfront cost of $125,000 to purchase rolling recycle carts. The township pays $25,000 which is not reimbursed.

“Laketown’s current recycling system fails not from lack of e􀆯ort, but from lack of infrastructure,” the township wrote in the grant application. “Our residents are motivated and ready to do better. They simply need the right tools. Rolling carts provide that push forward, creating the foundation for a functional, effective recycling program that truly diverts waste from landfills.”

The grant application will be filed in January. If the township is offered the grant, the board will then decide whether to accept it.

Other business

In other business, the board approved:

• Rezoning of the Wolters House property, 6289 147^th Ave., from R-1 to R2.
• A State of Michigan Volunteer Fire Capacity Grant through the State Department of Natural Resources for wildland turnout gear, boots, gloves and equipment, a 50/50 matching grant of $4,575, totaling $9,150, for the Graafschap Fire Department.
• Allocating up to $5,000 Friends of the Felt Estate for engineering inspection of the portico at the Felt Mansion, 6597 138^th Ave.
• The reappointment of Gary Dewey to the Herrick District Library Board.
• The reappointment of Bob Schaftenaar to the Laketown Township Building Authority.
• The reappointment of Dale Burkett as Laketown Township Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate.
• The appointment of Manager Stephanie Fox to be the Laketown Township representative to the Administrative Committee of the Holland Board of Public Works.