Recycle, MI - Michigan Recycling Coalition - MRC

05/20/2026

Batteries and electronics don’t belong in your curbside recycling or trash cart or bin. Here are a few other battery tips you should keep in mind:

Place tape (like clear or electrical tape) over the ends of batteries. Tape prevents terminals from coming into direct contact with other batteries or metal objects, therefore preventing friction, heat buildup, and sparking.

If a battery is swollen, leaking, cracked, or feels unusually warm, it should not be stored in your home. Place it in a non-flammable container, such as a metal bucket, with sand surrounding the battery. Take it to a proper battery drop-off or household hazardous waste location as soon as you can.

Many communities and retailers offer free events or accept certain batteries at no cost, but some collection programs may come with a fee.

Visit https://batterynetwork.org/locator/ to find a local drop-off.

05/08/2026

Compost feeds the soil and nourishes communities!

It’s Day 6 of . Composting organizations across the state are going above and beyond to support local agriculture and educate residents about the power of organics waste diversion.

Carter's Compost picks up buckets of food scraps from residents and businesses across the Traverse City area. Once the material is composted, those who subscribe to the pick-up service get free access to the finished compost for use in their own gardens! 🌷

Based in Lansing, Eastside Compost operates under a similar model, returning much of the finished compost to those who subscribe to their pick-up service. Anything that remains gets delivered to community gardeners to fuel local, regenerative agriculture. 🌱

SEEDS, also in Traverse City, boasts a “compost petting zoo” that puts eight different composting technologies on display for public view. Supplemented by composting activity, SEEDS provides regular programs to educate kids about compost and provide spaces for early farmers to learn and experiment. 🍒

Compost Research & Education Foundation

05/07/2026

Universities across the state are empowering students & staff to compost organic waste! For Day 5 of , we’re shedding the spotlight on composting at the college level.

Michigan State University collects food waste from the kitchens of their seven dining halls. With the help of a million red wiggler worms, MSU Recycling Center composts around 200,000 pounds of fruit and vegetable cuttings into high quality vermicompost. 🪱

Similarly, Northern Michigan University diverts back-of-house food waste from dining hall kitchens. These organics are composted by Partridge Creek Farm, who also gives NMU students discounts on curbside food scrap pick-up. Alternatively, students can drop food scraps off at the university’s hoop house to support sustainable agriculture projects. 🌱

The University of Michigan provides food waste collection bins at 10 different Ann Arbor-based campus buildings. U of M’s extends collection services to athletic events. Fans send 75% of their in-stadium waste to on-site recycling and compost bins. 🏈

All three universities engage students in the composting process. We love to see it!

Compost Research & Education Foundation

05/06/2026

As continues, we'd like to thank Zero Waste Detroit for hosting this event back in January to encourage organic waste diversion within the city & beyond.

Want to become an expert composter? Look out for Master Composter events in your community!

Earn your FREE Master Composter Certification with us! Learn composting basics and gain certified composter status with this completely free multi session workshop.

Register and learn more at the link in our bio today!

Recycle, MI - Michigan Recycling Coalition - MRC Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) WCCCD

05/06/2026

Michigan’s largest city is harnessing the power of compost! 🌱

Invested in urban agriculture, Detroit city leaders and advocates are working to capture food waste and compost it into a natural soil amendment. ♻️

To kickstart city-wide composting, the City of Detroit Office of Sustainability piloted a food scraps drop-off program, which recently wrapped up. 🫜

Sanctuary Farms, based on the eastside of the city, wants to take Detroit composting to the next level. That’s why they collaborated to establish the Detroit Community Compost Collective Project (DCCCP)—uniting the people & organizations dedicated to diverting organic waste and creating high-quality compost. 🤝

There’s so much more compost activity happening in and around Detroit. Dozens of urban farms and sustainability-focused groups use compost to fuel their operations. At the larger scale, the Detroit Zoo uses a biodgester to transform collected compostable waste into ready-to-use compost. 🦓

Stay tuned for more compost features!

Compost Research & Education Foundation
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05/04/2026

Do you live in the southern half of the lower peninsula? Ever drop your food scraps off at a community drop-off center? There’s a decent chance your scraps were picked up by My Green Michigan!

It’s Day 2 of . Today, we’re shouting out an impactful partnership between three companies that make compost possible in Southern Michigan.

Lee Hammond Jr. and Cliff Walkington of Hammond Farms Landscape Supply, based in Greater Lansing, wanted to start composting food scraps to supplement their landscape supply services. There was only one problem – they had no reliable way to get food scraps to their facility. 🤔

So, In 2014, Lee and Cliff founded My Green Michigan. With just a pick-up truck and a trailer, they made connections to pick up food scraps from places like community drop-off centers, corporate offices, and restaurants. 🚚

In 2020, Bill Whitley of composting company Spurt Industries joined My Green Michigan. With a new palace to bring compost, the haulers bought more trucks and expanded into a large-scale operation. 📈

Hammond Farms had the vision, and Spurt saw the opportunity. Together with My Green Michigan, these three companies are collecting and composting food scraps from every major city in the southern lower half of the state!🌱

Stay tuned for more features about the groups diverting & recycling organic waste across the state.

Compost Research & Education Foundation

05/04/2026

Yesterday marked the beginning of ! 🌱

With supply chains disrupted, fertilizer costs are skyrocketing. Now is a great time to consider regenerating sluggish soils with a robust application of compost!

Composting only requires organic material and a bit of time - nature does the rest. With the right combination of nitrogen-rich food scraps and carbon-rich yard debris, compost is an affordable soil amendment that can be produced and used wherever you are.

ICAW is brought to you by the Compost Research & Education Foundation Throughout the whole week, we’ll share info about various compost initiatives in Michigan, so stay tuned!

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day! Did you know that recycling conserves vital resources, especially energy? According to the EPA, recycling your household items into new products requires a lot less energy than it does to harvest and process raw materials. ♻️

Reducing your consumption, reusing what you can, and recycling often are three simple ways you can celebrate Earth Day this year! 🌍

04/14/2026

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04/13/2026

What happens to your milk jugs after you toss them into the recycling cart? 🤔