Varnum attorney Rick Manczak named to DEQ group focusing on state's compost facilities

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Varnum corporate attorney Rick Manczak has been named to the Michigan DEQ's Compost Facilities Work Group, tasked with advising Office of Waste Management and Radiological Protection on compost facility regulation.

“At a time when we are looking to divert more organic materials from landfills to utilization practices like composting, we face some challenges,” stated OWMRP Chief Bryce Feighner. “It is difficult to site sufficient capacity for composting yard clippings in some parts of the site; and it can be difficult to ensure facilities are operated properly when the regulatory program is so minimal.”

The Compost Facilities Work Group will develop recommendations for improving “how we oversee the development and operation of compost facilities in the State,’ Feighner said.

The Compost Facilities Work Group will function on an ad hoc basis to the Solid Waste and Sustainability Advisory Panel, which was recently established to look at solid waste laws and advise on any changes that promote solid waste and sustainability goals.

Manczak, who works out of Varnum’s Detroit office, is a corporate and transactional business attorney with extensive experience in all major areas of corporate, business and commercial law. He is deeply familiar with regulatory law related to the solid waste industry at both the federal and state level. Manczak is a member of the Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Ecosystems Committee and the Renewable, Alternative and Distributed Energy Resources Committee of the American Bar Association, and is a member and volunteer with the Huron River Watershed Council.