Westland Mayor Michael P. Londeau highlighted the accomplishments of both the city and the Wayne-Westland Community Schools, during the celebration and presented Environmental Champion awards to Westland City Council President Pro-Tem Andrea Rutkowski and Wildwood students and Principal Christine Swanson. The award recognized the “A Bench for Caps” program. The special recycled benches were built by Wildwood students and presented to the city as part of their bottle cap collection project.
During the event, city officials distributed free seed packets and free LED lightbulbs and the new Westland Police Department F-150 EV Lightning truck and other EV vehicles were on display.
Londeau delivered the 2023 Mission Green Sustainability Report and announced that the city recycling program collected more than 54,000 tons of recyclable materials since the curbside program began in 2008/2009. More than 3,000 tons have been collected since the summer of 2021, he said.
A 2022 recycling grant through the recycling partnership helped lower the Westland contamination rate in the curbside recycling program by 12 percent, according to the report.
In addition, the tree replacement program has planted 484 trees city wide since 2017.
Londeau said the city has worked with multiple organizations applying for grant funding for the planting of trees within the city.
He added that the city purchased the first Electric F-150 for the police department and will soon be adding 20 hybrid police interceptor Ford Explorers to the fleet. He added that there are currently electric vehicle charging statins at Westland City Hall and at Tattan Park.
The Walk & Roll Plan in the city is providing enhances access to paths for pedestrians and bikers and the city has opened the Wildwood Bikeway, a 3.5 mile bicycle lane on Wildwood from Warren to Glenwood.
The city has installed new LED lighting in the renovation of buildings and new streetlights in the community. The various projects will be completed in phases and several will be funded by grants from community partners, Londeau said.
