GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Kent County's recycling facility will close its doors to recyclable material for three weeks before the end of the year.

The reason behind the closure of the 8-year-old facility is a series of planned upgrades designed to improve efficiency and expand materials that can be accepted, according to a press release from the Kent County Department of Public Works.

"Periodic upgrades and equipment modifications like these ensure our recycling facility is up-to-date with the changing recycling needs of our community," Kristen Wieland, the county department's communications and marketing manager, said in a statement.

The facility will be closed from Tuesday, Nov. 28, Tuesday, Dec. 19. During that time, equipment upgrades will be completed including a new corrugated cardboard screen, additional optical sorting equipment and refurbishment of the conveyor system.

Once completed, county officials expect the upgrades will allow the facility to begin accepting paper cartons, like milk cartons and juice boxes. They will also help the facility keep up with a growing supply of corrugated cardboard among the items sent to the recycling center.

"The Kent County Recycling & Education Center allows residents to easily recycle materials through a single-stream sorting process, and these equipment additions will allow us to accept even more types of materials and continue delivering high-quality services to the community," Wieland said.

The upgrades will amount to a $1.5 million investment in the facility, according to the press release.

Paper cartons were previously not recycled at the facility because they're considered a "mixed material," often with a plastic coating on the paper and sometimes include a metal layer.

Assuming the upgrades are completed on schedule, the facility will begin accepting paper cartons on Tuesday, Dec. 19.

Whenever the plant is shut down, Kent County diverts the recyclable material elsewhere, primarily to the county's Waste to Energy facility located about a mile away along Market Avenue.

On average, the recycling center processes about 140-160 tons of recyclable material on a daily basis. That means that more than 2,000 tons of recyclable material could be diverted during the three weeks the facility is offline.

Daniel Schoonmaker, executive director of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum, is instead encouraging local residents to hold onto their recycling during the scheduled downtime.

"Those with the ability to do so should hold onto their recycling until after the updates are complete on Dec. 19," Schoonmaker said. "These upgrades are necessary to improve the system and will ultimately help us reduce waste in our community."

The Kent County Recycling and Education Center, located at 977 Wealthy St. SW, is approaching its eighth year of operations.

Over the past seven years, the center has undergone periodic maintenance and upgrades to adapt to changes in community recycling habits. The recycling center has also been occasionally shut down by explosions, fires and other malfunctions.

In June 2016, a partially-filled propane cylinder made its way into the facility and ultimately caused an explosion that did $90,000 of damage.

The facility was again taken offline on Dec. 14, 2016, after a small fire caused by an electrical short in equipment and again on Feb. 20 due to a mechanical malfunction involving the facility's baler.

Yet another explosion occurred on June 22, when a small propane cylinder exploded after being drawn into the baler. An employee was knocked down and taken to a local med center for observation, but did not suffer any serious injuries.

The incidents have led the county's Department of Public Works to urge residents to make sure the items they put in their recycling bins are accepted, and particularly to refrain from placing dangerous items like old propane tanks into either their recycling or trash collection bins.

Propane tanks of all sizes should be brought to any of the following locations for safe disposal:

South Kent Recycling & Waste Center, 10300 South Kent Drive, Byron Center

North Kent Recycling & Waste Center, 2908 Ten Mile Road, Rockford

Or any of Kent County's SafeChem household hazardous waste drop off centers, listed at

In the meantime, Kent County is also undertaking a planning process for creation of a "sustainable business park" on property originally set aside for future expansion of the landfill it manages near the county's southern boundary.

County officials hope they can attract businesses who will find new ways to reuse, recycle and pull energy from materials that would otherwise end up in the landfill. It's part of a larger goal to reduce the amount of waste sent to the county's landfill by 20 percent by 2020 and by 90 percent by 2030.