"A great place to live, work, and play."

Van Buren Township recognizes many of the current environmental issues facing the community.  Rising gas and energy prices, concerns about global warming, conservation of scarce resources, and problems with air and water quality are only a few of the challenges that our community, nation and planet must overcome to ensure a healthy, sustainable future.  Van Buren Township acknowledges that these problems are urgent, and would like to share some of the recent initiatives aimed at reducing our environmental impact.

Things to look for at Township Hall
 

• Installation of new high efficiency light fixtures in Township Hall
   
• Installation of timers on light switches at Township facilities to reduce electricity consumption
   
• Installation of rain sensors on irrigation systems to reduce excessive water use.
   
• Installation of timers on water faucets to reduce water use.
   
• Office paper recycling implemented in Township Hall.
   
• Post-consumer recycled content office and computer paper.
   
• Water quality demonstration projects funded through Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project.
   
• Public education on recycling, water quality protection, toxics reduction and energy conservation provided on Township website and written publications.
   
• Used oil recycling for fleet vehicles.
   
• New fuel pumps for vehicle fleet that will increase efficiency and digitally monitor water content in fuel.

Other Township Buildings
 

• Riggs heritage Park, storm water infiltration of the entire site contained, solar power for electricity (off grid), LED (lights)
   
• Bio-swale to filter storm water runoff installed at Fire Station No. 2

Policies and Information for the Public

• Published guidelines for residents to reduce water consumption for irrigation and eliminate common household leaks.
   
• Specifications added to landscaping contract to avoid application of fertilizers and pesticides around storm water facilities and waterways.
   
• Fertilizer use policy adopted by the Environmental Commission and Township Board of Trustees.
   
• Woodlands ordinance.
   
• Open space development ordinance.
   
• Digital water meters that reduce the need for individual trips to households.  Reduces gasoline consumption and CO2.

Van Buren Township also recognizes that several businesses in the community are doing their part to reduce energy consumption and improve the environment.  The Township is aware of several achievements of local businesses, and would like to share a few of those with our residents.  While there are many others doing their part to improve the quality and health of our community, below are a few of our shining examples:  

• EQ: The Environmental Quality Company, has the largest capacity for hazardous and non-hazardous waste in the country.  While a hazardous waste facility is not a popular land use, the services they provide are critical to the region’s manufacturers and businesses to safely dispose of waste products.    Located on the N. I-94 Service Drive, Wayne Disposal and Michigan Disposal Treatment plant can treat over 630 waste codes and excel at treating inorganic and organic wastes.  EQ is also a leading recycler o f solvent, used oil, glycol (antifreeze) and other commercial products that are reprocessed at other southeast Michigan facilities.  EQ is committed to research and development to ensure that EQ meets or exceeds U.S. EPA standards.  Additionally, an on-site laboratory is available for any customers’ analytical needs.
  http://www.eqonline.com/
   

• Grand River Printing & Imaging, located on Haggerty Road, is the first printing company in the state of Michigan to achieve a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification and offer products that can be verified as being derived from responsible forestry. Under the principles of responsible forestry, Grand River is now able to demonstrate that the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution have been performed in a manner that are environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable.  Grand River has also been recognized three times by Crain’s Detroit Business/IRI as a top workplace in southeastern Michigan and has been selected twice as one of the top ten best employers in the area.
  www.grpinc.com/
   

·         New Lawn Sod Farm, a small family owned business off of Martz Road, is doing their part to keep excess nutrients out of our local waterways.  Phosphorus is a common nutrient that runs off suburban lawns and can lead to algae blooms in waterways and overall degradation of water quality.  New Lawn Sod Farm provides a bag of phosphorus-free fertilizer and an information packet about how to maintain your lawn in an environmental friendly manner with each new lawn purchase.  One customer at a time, they are helping educate residents about how they maintain their lawn can affect our local waterways.

 

·         Ricardo, Inc., located off of Tyler Road, is a leading provider of technology, product innovation, engineering solutions and strategic consulting to the world's automotive industries.  Ricardo now occupies a leading position in the development of hybrid vehicle systems and of clean diesel and gasoline engine technologies offering improved fuel economy, reduced CO2 and low regulated exhaust emissions.  The company’s Advanced Propulsion Systems (APS) product group is responsible global activities in alternate engine and fuels, fuel cell technology, hybrid vehicle and electric traction systems for light duty, commercial, and off-highway applications. http://www.ricardo.com/

• Visteon Corporation, during the design of their world headquarters off of Ecorse Road, incorporated energy saving technologies and strategies to reduce energy use at the corporate office complex.  Grace Lake Corporate Center has a central energy plant that utilizes the relatively constant temperatures of the water in the on-site reservoir, Grace Lake, to heat and cool their buildings through a heat exchanger.  The buildings are constructed with high percentages of renewable and natural materials, making them more environmentally friendly. The corporation also worked with the Township to create Visteon Woods, a natural area preserve in the northwest corner of the site that sets aside quality wetlands and woodlands under a conservation easement.  There is a trail with boardwalks that weaves its way through Visteon Woods and highlights unique ecological features.  The Corporation has applied to for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the Grace Lake Corporate Center development and anticipates receiving a silver award designation.
  www.visteon.com/

• Waste Management, Inc., is the leading provider of waste and environmental services in North America.  It’s Woodland Meadows site, north of Ecorse Road, accepts municipal waste, brush and yard waste, construction and demolition debris, contaminated soil, municipal solid waste, and recyclables.  Woodland Meadows may only be a small part of Waste Management’s physical assets, but the site’s recycling collection helps make Waste Management the nation’s largest recycler.  Waste Management has also announced an environmental initiative that will serve as a platform for sustainable growth between now and 2020.  Planned initiatives include the following: increasing waste-based energy production, increasing the volume of recyclables materials processed; investing in cleaner technologies, and preserving and restoring more wildlife habitat across North America.   http://www.wm.com/   http://www.thinkgreen.com/ 

One of the Township’s concerns is the community’s recycling rate. Recycling reduces greenhouse gases (which contribute to global warming) by:

• Saving energy – especially by reducing energy consumption associated with extracting, processing and transporting ‘virgin’ raw  materials.  Manufacturing with recycled materials uses less energy overall compared with manufacturing using virgin materials.
• Increasing carbon uptake by forests (recycled paper, for example, leaves more trees standing so they can breathe in our carbon dioxide).
   
• Reducing and eventually eliminating the need for landfills (which release methane) and incinerators (which waste energy relative to recycling and reuse).
   
• *By recycling half of your household waste you can save 2,400 pounds of CO2 a year, which is equivalent to using 120 less gallons of gasoline!!!

Van Buren Township

 46425 Tyler Rd. Van Buren Twp, MI 48111

(734)699-8900

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Van Buren Township © 2003
All Rights Reserved