With no penalties for failure, many Michigan communities miss recycling goal

Michigan communities have faced a 2026 deadline to offer curbside recycling, but some areas are far behind
Infrastructure costs, limited funding and coordination challenges slow recycling expansion
That raises questions about whether Michigan can reach its larger recycling goals for 2029 and beyond

Michigan communities are struggling to introduce curbside recycling, four years after the state set a goal to make it available to nearly all homes in urban areas but imposed no penalties for communities that missed the mark.

There has been progress, with about 8-in-10 Michiganders able to recycle at their curb last year, up from just under 6-in-10 two years prior, according to Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy reports. But many communities still lack service and multifamily housing, like apartments, especially lack access to recycling.

Michigan is still short of its goal to have curbside recycling in 90% of single-family homes in urban areas by January 2026 and 90% of homes in other large municipalities by January 2028.

Some communities say they haven’t yet built the systems needed to meet the state’s deadlines.

In Dickinson County, the Iron Mountain-Kingsford-Norway urban area was required to have curbside recycling service available by Jan. 1 under Michigan’s new recycling benchmarks. However, local officials say expanding access has been slowed by infrastructure limitations like not enough garbage trucks, cost concerns and challenges creating a system that works for residents.

“A lot of that in our area is logistical,” said Ryan Carrigg, a community planner working on the region’s materials management plans. “We don’t have infrastructure in place to accommodate it at this time.”

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If communities within Census-defined urban areas do not meet the guidelines, there is no penalty. The US Census Bureau defines urban areas based on population density, rather than county boundaries. State guidance states the benchmarks are “not written or designed to penalize” communities that fail to meet them and instead are intended to serve as baseline planning goals.

Instead of enforcement, Michigan officials are relying on a collaborative approach centered on planning, grant funding and technical assistance.

“EGLE supports individuals, businesses and communities with recycling through educational awareness and technical, financial, and referral assistance. We believe cooperation and partnerships offer a productive path forward,” the agency said in a written statement to Bridge Michigan.

The state officials said counties and planning areas are expected to incorporate action steps into materials management plans. Planning areas are the geographic regions covered by each plan.

At least one local waste management official contacted by Bridge didn’t even know the deadline existed.

The head of the Northeast Michigan Materials Management Authority, Bailey Barr, said he was unfamiliar with the 2026 benchmark despite participating in a regional materials management planning process led in part by the state.

“When’s the deadline?” Barr asked during an interview after hearing about the 2026 urban-area benchmark.

Barr said his organization plans to expand curbside recycling access in Alpena County only after completing construction on a new facility projected to cost as much as $5.9 million and be operational in early 2027. He said the goal is to offer curbside recycling within five years of opening the new facility because the current one cannot handle the additional volume.

Barr said infrastructure costs remain one of the largest obstacles preventing expansion. Recycling trucks alone cost roughly $500,000 each, and the facility would need four trucks to service county residents.

“That’s just the trucks,” Barr said. “That’s not accounting for the curbside bins themselves or software on routes and all of that stuff that goes within that.”

Funding for the expansion comes primarily from federal and state grants, Barr said, along with a $25 household surcharge approved in Alpena County several years ago.

Additional barriers

The challenges facing communities like Alpena illustrate broader barriers municipalities across the state face when expanding curbside recycling access. State officials say barriers include infrastructure costs, residents not separating recycling properly, inconsistent public participation and the need for additional public education.

The state has attempted to address some of those challenges through its Materials Management Planning Grants Program. Since early 2024, counties and planning areas have requested $7.28 million of the $9.4 million available through that program.

Separately, state officials said the department has helped add more than 350,000 curbside recycling carts across Michigan since 2019 through its recycling initiatives.

According to state guidance, communities can meet the benchmark through several models, including municipally operated curbside collection, contracted private hauling services and subscription-based recycling programs.

State guidance also notes that if municipalities fail to meet the curbside access benchmark, local materials management plans “should identify action steps to make progress toward achieving” the target.

No penalties, big challenges

The benchmark is part of a broader update to Michigan’s solid waste laws that lawmakers approved in 2022. The changes shifted the state’s focus from simply sending waste to landfills to increasing recycling and reusing more materials. The law also requires counties to create materials management plans and sets recycling benchmarks to expand curbside recycling access across the state.

Kerrin O’Brien, executive director of the Michigan Recycling Coalition, said the benchmark is intended to establish a baseline level of recycling access while giving communities flexibility in how they expand services.

“It’s really difficult,” O’Brien said. “We all need to move toward these targets, the eventual goals that we’re trying to reach, but it requires a tremendous amount of coordination between all of the players.”

O’Brien said many counties are updating their waste management plans for the first time in about 25 years. That means local governments are creating new planning processes, working with municipalities and collecting baseline data while also trying to expand recycling services.

“This is a heavy lift for all involved,” O’Brien said. “You’re not going to see anybody point fingers. Everybody is trying to position themselves to make that progress.”

Expanding curbside recycling remains essential if Michigan hopes to increase its statewide recycling rate from about 25% to 30% by 2029 and eventually 45% beyond 2030 to meet the goals set by the state, O’Brien said.

Mcihigan’s recycling access rate is five percentage points below the national rate, with 68% of households having access, compared to 73% nationwide, according to a 2024 report from The Recycling Partnership.

“It’s an imperative,” O’Brien said. “The amount of waste that is generated is increasing and will continue to increase over time. If all of that is just going to the landfill, we will be saddled with managing that waste in our landfills in perpetuity without any benefit to us.”

Instead, O’Brien said, recycling more materials keeps them in circulation, allowing manufacturers to reuse them instead of relying on new raw materials.

Meeting the benchmark is only the beginning

Heather Bausick, Allegan County’s solid waste and recycling coordinator, said the county had already met the state’s recycling access benchmark before realizing the requirement had been adopted. EGLE’s county profile shows recycling is available curbside in 21 communities there, although access varies across the county.

Aerosal cans sit in a recycling bin — In Allegan County, completely empty aerosol cans can go in standard curbside or drop-site recycling. Full or partially full aerosol cans are household hazardous waste and require disposal by appointment at the Allegan County Health Department or at seasonal county collection events. (Courtesy of Heather Bausick)

The county’s materials management plan is focused on improving participation and understanding how residents use existing recycling services. Bausick said one of the county’s goals is to collect better data on recycling habits and use that information to educate residents about the options already available to them.

Bausick said implementing Michigan’s new materials management plan has brought its own challenges. Rather than expanding curbside access, the county is now focused on coordinating recycling efforts across municipalities that use different collection systems and determining how future improvements will be funded.

“Just trying to navigate what everyone wants, what everyone wants to see, how will this be funded, how will we get everyone on board,” Bausick said. “The approach as to the how has been the biggest challenge so far.”

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