Harbor Strategic Public Affairs

09/30/2026

It was great to see students explore different career paths in the construction industry yesterday!

Hundreds of students gathered in Lansing to learn about careers in construction science.

09/30/2026

It's time to recycle the Bottle Bill!

"Let's take the trash out of grocery stores," Bill Wild, CEO of the MIRA Midwest Independent Retailers Association & Foundation.

Read the Axios article:

Grocers want standalone redemption centers to replace in-store returns.

09/30/2026

"When you think about our grocery stores where they're doing everything they can to keep food safe on its way in, with this bottle bill requiring people to bring these dirty bottles back, people are trudging into the grocery stores and bringing all these bottles back in, it's bringing contaminants into the grocery store," said MIRA Midwest Independent Retailers Association & Foundation President and CEO Bill Wild.

Watch the Mid-Michigan NOW story:

MICHIGAN., (WPBN/WGTU) -- Fifty years ago, Michigan’s bottle return law went into effect and for the past five decades people have been paying and then getting

09/30/2026

“Overwhelmingly, they all agreed that it’s time to get this bottle bill or these bottles and cans out of stores,” said Bill Wild MIRA Midwest Independent Retailers Association & Foundation President and CEO

The return rate dropped harshly during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to fall. Is it time to do away with Michigan's bottle bill?

https://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/dime-dilemma-bottle-return-rate-continues-to-drop-fueling-calls-for-change/

09/30/2026

09/30/2026

“It’ll be everyday Joe Taxpayer and Jane Taxpayer paying for this thing and then have it be completely out of their control,” said John Sellek on the dangers of a Constitutional Convention.

Watch 9&10 News' coverage on last week's Vote No on Prop 1 roundtable:

Local business and government leaders in Traverse City warn a Michigan constitutional convention would bring years of uncertainty

09/29/2026

“When you walk into a polling location, the person who takes your application for a ballot is probably somebody you may have run into at the grocery store,” said former Lt. Gov. John D. Cherry.

“You know they don’t cheat, and so that’s why you have confidence in your local elections."

UMich community members gathered for bipartisan conversation on protecting elections, keeping public trust and expanding voter participation.

09/28/2026

A new survey shows it's time to recycle the bottle bill!

"The bottle bill is public policy,” said Bill Wild, CEO MIRA Midwest Independent Retailers Association & Foundation. “Most public policy doesn't last for 50 years. So this one did a great job, but now that the participation rate is at 70 percent, MIRA is trying to raise awareness of this and we're trying to spark a conversation on what's the best way to maybe move on to a future phase of recycling in the state of Michigan."

Watch the UpNorthLive story:

MICHIGAN., (WPBN/WGTU) -- Fifty years ago, Michigan’s bottle return law went into effect and for the past five decades people have been paying and then getting

09/28/2026

“What we find almost universally is, especially when you break it down to the sanitation piece of it, everybody agrees that we’ve got to get this out of grocery stores,” said Bill Wild, CEO of MIRA Midwest Independent Retailers Association & Foundation.

“But then the rub is, so how do we do that? What MIRA has been trying to do is reach out to the environmental groups and all the stakeholders, because there’s an industry that’s built itself around these bottle returns. And we are trying to bring them to the table on the evolution of the Bottle Bill and the next phase of this.”

Read The 'Gander article:

The Midwest Independent Retailers Association is calling for a two-year sunsetting of the Bottle Bill while a new system is devised that separates bottle and can redemption returns from stores.

09/28/2026

"The MIRA Midwest Independent Retailers Association & Foundation are calling for Michigan's current bottle return law, enacted in 1976, to be phased out."

"The biggest problem is the returnable, because when you return them, they're dirty; we find pests in them sometimes, we find rodents in the containers, and we have to stack them all in the back next to our fresh groceries," said John Denha, owner of Savon Food in Detroit.

The Midwest Independent Retailers Association is calling for Michigan's current bottle return law to be phased out.