HOLLAND, Mich. — A new recycling center is coming to the Holland area, and for at least one neighbor, the news was enough to bring tears.
Holland City Council accepted a $1 million recycling infrastructure grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy on March 4, paving the way for a new facility to be built next to the PADNOS Black River Recycling Center in Holland Township.
The project has been years in the making, and Scott Vander Zwaag was there from the beginning.
Vander Zwaag, a Holland resident and retired Gentex employee, developed a passion for sustainability during his career.
"It just morphed into recycling of equipment, then recycling of materials from Gentex in and of itself, and before you know it, it moved into waste or hazardous waste, all those things associated with sustainability," Vander Zwaag said.
After retiring 5 years ago and taking a part-time job at Ace Hardware, Vander Zwaag began noticing a gap in his neighborhood.
"You'd be driving around and you'd be seeing, like, a vacuum cleaner stuck into the dump, the waste dumpster that the garbage collection picks up, and you're wondering, how come we don't have a place for the soccer mom to get rid of her broken vacuum, and just a number of things like that," Vander Zwaag said.
That observation led him to bring the idea to a friend about 2 and a half years ago, Dan Broersma, the city of Holland's first Sustainability and Environmental Manager.
"I got with Dan and I got with Ken Freestone, and we sat down at Lemonjello's and started bantering and talking about what a neighborhood recycling center would look like," Vander Zwaag said.
What started as a conversation over coffee turned into a years-long volunteer effort.
"Then it became monthly meetings with Dan and others, and then we went to different recycling centers around Michigan, and out of that was born a recycling center for Holland," Vander Zwaag said.
The city has collaborated with PADNOS and Holland Township to bring this project to fruition.
"A lot of people will probably think that it's still in the city, but it's not. It's technically outside of the city," Mayor Nathan Bocks said. "We partnered with PADNOS, we partnered with the township to be able to locate this facility on property that has been given to us by the Padnos family. And so, we're getting the real estate for free."
Bocks said the center fills a real need, noting that the countywide recycling center is not conveniently located for many Holland residents. He added that the facility will be open to the broader public, not just Holland neighbors.
"It means more people are actually recycling, which is great. And a facility like this is much more efficient and much more cost effective if more people are using it. So, it's a double win by opening it up to other people in the public," Bocks said.
The anticipated cost of the project is $1.5 million, with the city budgeting $1.6 million for the center. However, construction is still some time away. Design work must be completed before development can even begin.
"Then once they have that design, and they've got a price that fits within the budget that we have, then they'll be able to give us a firmer timeline on when it's going to be built," Bocks said.
The mayor hopes the center will open within the next year or two. He framed the project as part of a broader commitment to sustainability in Holland.
"We think that sustainability, one is great for the environment as a whole, but it's also great for this, for the city. It ultimately saves us money," Bocks said. "Every single city building runs on renewable energy. Yes, we produce all of our own electricity here at the city through our own Holland Energy Park."
For Vander Zwaag, the grant approval was a long-awaited moment.
"When I got the text from Dan last Thursday evening, I got a little weepy. You know, you wonder what's happening with this project, because it took a long time, and then all of a sudden, you get the word it's a go. So, now you get to volunteer some more," Vander Zwaag said. "We only got one Earth, and we need to take care of it. And it starts here at home."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
