The US city of Detroit is receiving nearly $1 million in grants to support the largest expansion of recycling in its history as part of a $2.2m public-private collaboration to increase recycling education state-wide in 2020.

The ground-breaking news was announced by Liesl Clark, director for Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) at the Michigan Department of Environment. Funded by EGLE and the national non-profit The Recycling Partnership, the projectwill help build on the success of Michigan’s  award-winning Know It Before You Throw It recycling education campaign that EGLE launched last year.

“We are committed to informing and inspiring more people than ever before in Detroit and across Michigan about how to recycle better,” Clark said during a morning news conference.

“Increasing recycling and improving the quality of materials we’re recycling is not only the right thing to do for our environment, but it also saves energy, reduces water use, decreases greenhouse gases, conserves resources and translates into local jobs,” she added.

State legislators want to double Michigan’s recycling rate to 30 per cent by 2025 and ultimately reach 45 per cent annually. Michigan’s current 15 per cent recycling rate is the lowest in the Great Lakes region and ranks among the nation’s lowest.

Equally important, EGLE and its campaign partners across the state are promoting awareness of cleaner recycling practices to reduce the amount of contaminated materials improperly going into recycling bins.

The collaboration between Detroit, EGLE and The Recycling Partnership, with special support from the PepsiCo Foundation, will increase residential access to recycling and collection capacity in Detroit through the purchase of 16,400 kerbside recycling carts and nearly 4,000 multifamily containers.

“We’re proud to work with The Recycling Partnership and city and state leaders to make these important investments in Detroit that will help more than 76,000 families increase their recycling and capture an estimated additional 1,315 tonnes of recyclables per year,” said Tim Carey, vice president for Sustainability at PepsiCo Beverages North America. “Our investment in Detroit’s recycling is part of PepsiCo’s global work to help build a circular future for packaging and a world where plastics need never become waste. Working together, we can help reach Michigan’s goal to increase state-wide recycling by 30 per cent.”