News

Please note the changes to some of Kent County Department of Public Works services due to COVID-19 precautions:

• Kent County Recycling Center reopened on May 4th for operations (no educational programming). This includes curbside recycling services that come to Kent County Recycling Center to be sorted and the residential Recycling Drop-off Stations (in Grand Rapids and Rockford).
• South Kent Landfill is open with reduced hours: Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm. CLOSED SATURDAYS.
• Waste to Energy Facility is open with reduced hours: Monday-Friday 5am-5pm. CLOSED SATURDAYS.
• North Kent Recycling & Waste Center is open for solid waste disposal and residential drop-off recycling with reduced hours: Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm. CLOSED SATURDAYS.
• Kent County SafeChem program will resume on Monday, May 18th for normal hours at all SafeChem locations.
• Kent County SafeSharps and SafeMeds programs are suspended at all sites until further notice.
• DPW Administrative offices have suspended all in-person services until further notice. Staff is responding to phone calls and electronic messages. Please contact us by phone at 616-632-7920 or email for assistance.

South Kent Landfill, North Kent Transfer Station and Waste to Energy are open for essential waste disposal needs in order to provide critical infrastructure to sustain life. According to the Stay at Home Order, all in-person activities that are not necessary to sustain or protect life must be suspended until normal operations resume. Before visiting these locations, please consider whether your waste disposal needs are necessary to sustain or protect life.

Tires that are accepted for recycling:

• Car/Pickup Truck
• Semi truck and trailer
• Motorcycle
• Wheelbarrow
• ATV
• Riding lawn mower
• Agricultural tires with rim size 14” or less
• Bicycle (10 bike tires equals the cost of a single passenger car tire)

The tires that are accepted for recycling must be clean. Tires can either be on or off the rim — we have no preference.

Tires that are NOT accepted for recycling:

• Agricultural tires with rim diameter greater than 14”
• Airplane tires
• Skid Steer, loader or earth moving equipment tires

Tires that are not accepted for recycling may be cut into a minimum of two pieces (half) for disposal in the landfill and will be charged according to the fee schedule based on minimum charge or according to the weight and cut tire tonnage pricing.

Dead animals from agricultural operations, road kill, or other sources requiring special management.

Restrictions apply to North Kent Transfer Station for this material; please call for prior approval.

Any matter contaminated by petroleum, mineral waste from casting or plating operations, which are non-hazardous, as outlined in PA 451, and also meet all rules set forth in the “Policy on the Use of the Kent County Solid Waste Disposal System”.

Please call for rates – prior approval required.

Any sludge (municipal water or wastewater sludge, paper processing sludge, industrial sludge, food processing sludge or by -products, etc.), which is no-hazardous, as outlined in PA 451, and also meets the “Policy on the Use of the Kent county Solid Waste Disposal System.”

Please call for rates – prior approval required. The Director shall calculate the actual cost using a percent of solids in the sludge and/or environmental surcharge based on the chemical or physical characteristics of the sludge.

Bulky items that are accepted for landfill disposal:

• Mobile homes
• Campers
• Trailers
• Boats
• Hot Tubs
• Any bulky item that requires special handling including equipment and labor to manage.

All appliances in mobile homes or trailers are to be removed prior to disposal.

Any plastic, Styrofoam, light paper, or fine particle material that is not securely bundled to prevent operational hazard.

Kent County’s Recycling & Education Center utilizes state-of-the-art technology as well as manual sorting to separate plastics, metals, glass and paper into commodities that are valuable in the domestic and global marketplace. Visit the Recycling & Education Center to see for yourself!