Michigan’s recycling rate is lowest in Great Lakes region by Great Lakes Echo
At 20 percent, Michigan’s recycling rate is 10 percent lower than the regional average. Many people around the state are hoping to change that. In 2012, Governor Rick Snyder identified increasing Michigan’s recycling rates as a priority for his administration. Michigan Recycling Coalition executive director Kerrin O’Brien discusses what a comprehensive recycling plan might include.
Also this past March, the Keep Michigan Wolves Protected coalition submitted some 255,000 signatures in a bid to overturn the law passed by the Michigan legislature that put wolves on the list of game species. The Senate
Photo: Streetwise Cycle. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
soon passed another law that essentially circumvented the petition. Now, the group is trying again with a second referendum drive. This time, the president of the Human Society of the United States was in Michigan earlier this week to lend his support. We spoke with HSUS president Wayne Pacelle about the issue.
This environmental segment of Current State is supported by Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. For more news of the Great Lakes environment, you can check out GreatLakesEcho.org
Containers covered by the Bottle Bill are included in the estimated recycling rate. But those bottle and cans only make up 2% of our waste stream. Much effort goes into recycling because these materials have value on the commodities market. It’s not just the right thing to do, it makes for good business.
I have been recycling for years and the people I’ve talked to who do not recycle say it’s just because they are basically too lazy to do it.
I would like to know however how much of all the recycleables collected are actually recycled.
The recycling rate is low because there is so little emphasis on recycling. Many other states and their communities require curbside recycling along with trash pickup and many prohibit recyclables in the trash that goes to dumps. Michigan and many of its communities have no such rules. The bottle deposit has relatively little to do with the low recycling rate.
Of course our recycling rate is low. It’s because there are no bottles and cans in the recycling stream. They go back to retail stores for a 10 cent deposit. This is an example of misleading data.