ALPENA — The Northeast Michigan Materials Management Authority (NMMMA) approved reducing their business membership fees by about 72%, from $360 per year to $100 per year.

The board also approved the purchase of a dump trailer, the 2026 Fiscal Year budget, and updated their price list.

Executive Director Bailey Barr proposed to the board that they reduce their business membership prices for recycling.

According to Barr, the facility currently has 70 businesses paying $360 a year for NMMMA recycling. He proposed to the board to lower the price to $100 to incentivise more businesses to purchase memberships.

“I would rather carve our business rate and have them bring it to us versus just not even considering it,” Barr added.

Barr explained that the $360 rate is not feasible for some businesses as they also have to deliver the materials to the facility. He added that it also is not feasible for businesses to have their own recycling containers.

“To pitch to a business that, ‘You buy a $7,000 container to recycle and we’re going to still charge you to pick it up’?”

For the Bay Athletic Club (BAC), for example, NMMMA has partnered with them to recycle cardboard from their current renovation project in downtown Alpena. Barr said that they charge BAC $75 per pickup of cardboard.

The board approved a motion to accept price reduction.

Barr also proposed to the board that purchasing a dump trailer to haul recyclable materials from businesses to the recycling facility is more effective than only using the facility’s pickup truck.

“The past month and a half we’ve been getting quite a bit of phone calls on businesses and places that have bulk amounts of materials,” Barr said.

Barr explained that prior to the facility purchasing a single cab pickup truck he had been picking up recyclable materials from businesses with his personal truck. Barr said that he has also had auto shops approach him about taking tires. One shop recently offered NMMMA 200 tires.

“I took out 200 tires with my pickup truck out of that place,” Barr said. “I hate to turn down potential material.”

Barr told the board that it took him 10 trips to haul the tires to the facility.

With the addition of the dump trailer, Barr said, there could be opportunities in the future to make weekly trips to business to pick up cardboard, for example. He told the board that there is a demand among businesses to dispose of cardboard, specifically.

The board made a motion to approve the purchase of the dump trailer for $12, 427, which includes a delivery fee. These funds will come from the facility equipment line budget item from the 2026 budget.

NMMMA treasurer Rachel Smolinski said that the facility would only need to make four pick-up trips of cardboard to equal the money spent on the dump trailer.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

— The board voted to approve the Fiscal Year 2026 budget and price list. Smolinski said that if the new recycling facility is open before the end of 2026, the board will have to adjust the budget to account for the new facility’s operating costs.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.