News from Waste Management’s Eagle Valley Landfill

In 2013, WM collaborated with Baker Auto/DieselCollege in Owosso, Michigan to start an internshipprogram. The internship program is six monthslong and is established at Waste Management’sFlint hauling operation. To start the collaborationWaste Management recruited a young energeticstudent named Justin Greyerbiehl. Throughout thesix-month program, Justin worked closely with a

mentor who developed his skills as a high per-forming technician. Justin graduated with hisAssociates degree in Business Management andDiesel Technology and Waste Management wasable to place Justin as a full-time technician at ourDetroit North, Pontiac hauling operation. Justin is25 years old and enjoys spending time with hisdaughter and hunting.

Your Community ConnectionVol. 1, 2015

Eagle Valley Recycling and Disposal Facility600 W. Silver Bell RoadOrion, MI 48359

Telephone248-391-0990Fax248-391-1219

Please call for current hours of operation as hours maychange seasonally.Monday-Friday 7:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Recycling HoursRecycling drop-off available during normal landfill hours.For tours call (248) 391-0990. Printed on recycled paper.

Developing the next generation of employees

http://eaglevalleylandfill.wm.com

LANDFILL CONCERNS HOTLINE1-877-360-8582

Please keep this number handy.wm.com

Waste Management is preparing the west area of the site fornew cell development in 2015. Part of this preparation involvesinstalling an underdrain system to remove perched groundwater.Perched groundwater refers to sand and gravel layers containing

groundwater that are notpart of the underlyingregional aquifer. Thegroundwater is perchedor held-up by under-ground layers of claysoils, creating suspendedpools of groundwaterthat result from theabove ground precipita-

tion/moisture that travels through the surface soils to collect inthese pools. Prior to constructing the new cell, WM is installingan underdrain system consisting of gravel filled trenches and

perforated pipes thatwill allow this naturallyoccurring perched waterto be released and flowinto the local wetlandsto the north of the site.One of the woodlots atEagle Valley has alsobeen cleared. The twoexisting flares and land-fill gas compressionsystem visible from Silver Bell Road will be relocated this spring.All this work is being done in preparation for new cell construction.This will be the first time that Eagle Valley has seen new cell con-struction in 11 years. Local students from Scripps and WaldonMiddle School will be able to observe cell construction as part oftheir tour of the facility this Spring.

New cell development

Justin Greyerbiehl

Perched groundwater at excavation

Trenchwork facing north

Orion’s New Fire StationWhen Orion Township needed to relocate Fire Station No. 2,Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett approached WasteManagement to discuss property owned by Waste Managementon Giddings Rd. Waste Management, by providing this propertyfor the fire station at this location allowed Orion Township tokeep the fire station at the south end of the township. WasteManagement was able to provide the property to the townshipat a “fire sale” price as our commitment to the health and safetyof the community.

After construction - December 2014

Eagle Valley Recycling and Disposal Facility600 W. Silver Bell RoadOrion, MI 48359

wm.com

It’s hard to think of butterflies in these cold winter months, but allthe more reason to share this lovelystory with you. In the hot summermonth of August, Waste Management’sEagle Valley Gas Tech, Adam Stoughencountered a Viceroy butterfly whiledoing his landfill gas monitoring at thesite. The butterfly landed on him whilehe was reading a well and it wouldn’t flyaway. Adam discovered it had a tinywhite spider on its back that must havebeen paralyzing it. He removed thespider and took the butterfly to theEagle Valley scale house where WM’sscalehouse attendant Christine Stanczakobserved it could walk all around but

was unable to fly. Christine tookthe butterfly home where heryoung daughters Natalie, age 8and Emily, age 4, looked on-linefor how to care for a butterfly.They learned that butterflieshave tongues to eat with. Theyprepared sugar water for it toeat and shortly after feeding it,the butterfly regained itsstrength and was able to flyaway. This is what WM’s WildlifeHabitat/Wildlife at Work pro-gram is all about, connectingour employees (and their fami-lies) to the wonders of nature.

A butterfly’s tale in this gray cold of winter

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Waste Management educational effort around proper recyclingAs public education around sustainability and recycling grows, the publichas gotten very passionate about recycling. As a result, many items arefinding their way into the recycling bin and becoming contaminates in therecyclable waste stream. This adds cost for processing the recyclablesand/or devalues the recycled materials, posing a threat to the sustainabil-ity of the recycling industry. As the largest recycler in North America,Waste Management experiences this problem on a large scale and iscommitted to greater efforts around public education about properrecycling. At right, are a couple of facts that you may not be aware of.

Recently Waste Management presented webinars through the EPA andGreenbiz with good information about this concern. The webinar informa-tion is available at the Eagle Valley Recycling and Disposal Facility websiteNews page http://eaglevalleylandfill.wm.com/news/index.jsp

Please visit the Waste Management Recycle Often and Recycle Rightwebsite at http://recycleoftenrecycleright.com and take the pledgeto practice and promote proper recycling.

Eagle Valley offers residents a Recycling Drop Off area at thelandfill available during normal business hours.