Michigan records record recycling rate for third year in a row

Today’s MI Environment story is courtesy of the Recycling Raccoons.

Child puts milk carton in recycling cart.

The Great Lakes State’s recycling rate has reached a record high for the third year in a row, according to new data analysis released today by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).

The EGLE study shows that Michigan has steadily increased its recycling rate, which historically has been the lowest in the Great Lakes region. Michigan’s recycling rate has increased from 14.25% before 2019 to 21% last year and now to over 23%. EGLE officials project that at its current pace of improvement, Michigan is on track to meet the state goal of a 30% recycling rate by 2029.

“Recycling helps us preserve Michigan’s beauty,” said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

“When Michiganders recycle cans and bottles, they get money back and support Michigan businesses with the materials they need,” said Governor Whitmer. “We are becoming leaders in recycling and must continue to improve. My administration is committed to working with EGLE to encourage recycling by making it easier and more effective. Let’s work together to protect our natural resources and keep Michigan beautiful.”

EGLE officials attribute the increase in recycling rates to the fact that more Michigan residents than ever have access to recycling services.

Michigan residents recycled more than 330,000 tons of paper and paper products, over 237,000 tons of metals, more than 67,000 tons of glass, and over 58,000 tons of plastics and plastic products in fiscal year 2023. The total amount of residential recycled materials reported for fiscal year 2023 was 703,369 tons, surpassing the previous year’s record by more than 82,000 tons.

According to EGLE researchers, this equates to recycling 63.5 kilograms of cardboard boxes, milk cartons, soup cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, food waste and other recyclable materials per person over a period of twelve months.

Other highlights of the new EGLE data include:

• Improved recycling performance helps Michigan meet its MI Healthy Climate Plancommissioned by Governor Whitmer as a broad-based roadmap for a sustainable, prosperous, healthy, equitable and carbon-neutral economy in Michigan by 2050. Carbon neutrality is the global, science-based benchmark for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most devastating and costly impacts of climate change.
• According to an analysis by EGLE’s NextCycle Michigan Initiative, recycling in Michigan supports 72,500 jobs and contributes over $17 billion to the state’s overall economic output annually.
• EGLE and statewide nonprofit The Recycling Partnership have partnered to deploy more than 245,000 new recycling carts in over 30 communities across the state, collectively serving more than one million Michigan residents, with plans to deploy an additional 88,000 new carts in four Michigan communities in 2024.
• 80% of Michigan residents say they took action and changed their recycling behavior for the better after EGLE launched the nationally award-winning recycling education campaign “Know It Before You Throw It” in 2019, which Recycling Raccoon Troop.

To further expand recycling access in Michigan, EGLE also today announced infrastructure grants totaling over $5 million to support recycling projects in the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Genesee County, Lansing, Southwest Oakland County, Isabella County, Van Buren County, Marquette County, Sterling Heights in Macomb County and Madison Heights in Oakland County.

The largest projects include:

• A unique collaboration by EGLE with the Michigan Grocers Association, which includes Kroger stores and independent grocers, to promote recycling practices in stores in the Detroit metropolitan area through an in-store educational campaign that features recycling raccoon mascots sharing tips from promotional inserts on canned goods shelves.
• Genesee County will receive a $900,000 EGLE grant to build a recycling collection facility that will serve the county’s approximately 170,000 households as a collection point for paper, cardboard, plastic, and items such as household hazardous waste and electronics. This facility is free and open to Genesee County residents on a weekly basis. Currently, Genesee County does not have a recycling collection center, creating a large gap in service for the community. By opening a collection facility, the facility will provide convenience to residents by being more accessible and filling a gap in service for those who do not have curbside recycling options.
• Marquette County will receive a $900,000 EGLE grant to expand the processing capacity of its Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Currently, the Upper Peninsula’s MRF processes about 8,500 tons annually, but Marquette County Solid Waste Management Authority officials say additional dump space is needed to accommodate the projected increase in future tons. The project includes building additional dump space to accommodate incoming recyclables from counties across the UP.
• Isabella County will receive a $900,000 EGLE grant to expand and upgrade its existing MRF, currently designed to process 7 tons per hour. The facility will need to be remodeled due to the changing density and composition of recyclable materials, and to provide single-stream collection and processing for the region. Processing capacity will need to be increased and a new single-stream sorting system will need to be built. This is the first step in upgrading the entire facility to single-stream processing capacity and quadrupling its overall capacity.
• The City of Sterling Heights will receive a $527,000 EGLE grant to support its transition from optional, subscription-based curbside recycling to universal curbside recycling. Sterling Heights has approximately 41,500 private collection sites. Approximately 8,700 households currently participate in subscription-based curbside recycling collection. The City of Sterling Heights’ goal is to make recycling easy and convenient for residents while reducing the amount of waste going to the landfill and dramatically increasing the overall recycling rate and volume collected through universal curbside recycling.
• Van Buren County will receive a $500,000 EGLE grant that will enable the Van Buren Conservation District to partner with eight of the county’s 11 transfer stations to improve recycling services throughout Van Buren County. The project will focus on infrastructure improvements at each of the eight sites that will improve capacity, efficiency, safety and services for Van Buren County residents.
• The City of Madison Heights receives a $403,000 EGLE grant to implement a community-wide recycling/garbage cart program that will benefit 30,000 residents and 9,600 households.
• The City of Lansing will receive a $300,000 EGLE grant to fund the purchase of a recycling truck, trash containers and fleet management software, and to hire a marketing firm to improve recycling for commercial and multifamily properties. Private recycling services for multifamily properties and small to medium-sized businesses were recently reduced or eliminated. The EGLE grant will allow the city to compete for commercial customers who need a larger container than the 96-gallon carts currently in use. Lansing officials say the project will help fill a market niche and enable the city to offer a comprehensive range of services that will increase tonnage, participation and access and improve Lansing’s diversion rate.
• The Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County (RRRASOC) received a $140,000 EGLE grant to purchase new robotic sorting equipment that will automate sorting at its Southfield MRF. The state-of-the-art technology will address both chronic staffing shortages and rising temporary labor costs, improve workplace safety, and allow staff to process household recyclable waste more efficiently. Additionally, the installation of robots, along with associated analytics, will enable significantly improved tracking of materials by type and provide key metrics that can inform and improve MRF operations and future capital planning. The more accurate data tracking metrics will help inform broader public and private sector discussions about products, product packaging, policies, and laws relevant to materials management and benefit member communities of Farmington, Farmington Hills, Milford, Milford Township, Novi, South Lyon, Southfield, Walled Lake, and Wixom.

“Recycling is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos. “Recycling properly saves Michigan taxpayers money by increasing the value of recycled materials, supporting Michigan jobs and improving environmental health,” Roos said. “We know Michiganders want to recycle properly, and through our ‘Know It Before You Throw It’ campaign and investments in recycling infrastructure, we are giving them the tools to do just that.”