The numbers are stacking up: Recycling in Michigan is bigger than ever

Here are more numbers that describe the good habits and great results that increasingly define recycling in our Great Lakes State:

• Recycling in FY 2024 totaled 723,174 tons of materials, including 71,000 tons of glass, 329,000 tons of paper, and 56,000 tons of plastics. It’s over 19,000 tons more than in the year before.
• On average, each Michigander contributed 143 pounds of recycling over the full fiscal year.
• EGLE forecasts Michigan is on track to achieve the state’s 2029 recycling goal: a rate of 30%.
• Three-quarters of Michiganders surveyed say they’ve improved their recycling habits since the 2019 launch of the “Know It Before You Throw It” recycling education campaign featuring the Recycling Raccoons.
• Michigan households report they are recycling an average of 44% of their waste, up from 38% before 2019.
• Recycling in Michigan supports 72,500 jobs and contributes more than $17 billion a year to the state’s economy, according to an analysis by EGLE’s NextCycle Michigan Initiative.
• Together with the nonprofit Recycling Partnership, EGLE has rolled out more than 333,000 new curbside recycling carts in 34 communities since 2019, serving more than 1.2 million residents. As a result, more Michiganders than ever have easy access to recycling services.
• EGLE just announced grants of more than $11.8 million to advance recycling access and develop Michigan’s business supply chains:
  • 15 Recycling Infrastructure Grants totaling more than $4.6 million to bolster recycling programs.
  • NextCycle Michigan Circular Economy Grants to 30 awardees totaling more than $5.6 million.
  • Organics Infrastructure Grants for composting or food waste recycling totaling more than $1.6 million to 17 recipients. At least one-third of the total waste Michiganders generate each year is organic material.

Improved recycling performance is helping Michigan reach the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, the state’s road map to a sustainable, prosperous, healthy, equitable, carbon-neutral Michigan economy by 2050.

“Recycling is not only the right thing to do” said EGLE recycling market development specialist Matt Flechter, “but also the smart thing to do.”

Resources and information for municipalities and residents are available on EGLE’s Recycling web page. Find answers to many of your recycling questions – and check out the “Recycling 101” video – on EGLE’s “Learn About Recycling” web page.