MEDIA ADVISORY:                            

April 22, 2026                                

Contact: Mike Nowlin

Cell: 989-450-0855

NEWS CONFERENCE 10:30 A.M. TODAY Wednesday, April 22 in Detroit

On Earth Day (April 22), 

Michigan will announce the state’s

recycling rate is at a record high 

for the fifth consecutive year

The materials Michiganders recycled in FY2025 equal the weight of 10 Mackinac Bridges

and combined would fill the football stadiums of the Detroit Lions, University of Michigan,

and Michigan State University, plus the Detroit Zoo

WHAT:

News conference to announce the recycling rate in the Great Lakes State is at a record high for the fifth consecutive year, according to a new analysis of data that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is unveiling to coincide with Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22. The EGLE research shows Michigan has steadily increased its recycling rate from 14.25% before 2019 to over 25% in FY2025, and is now 26% for FY2026. EGLE forecasts that Michigan is on track to achieve the state’s goal of a 30% recycling rate by 2029.

B-ROLL: 

As part of the press conference, EGLE will introduce approximately 60 fourth- and fifth-grade students from American Montessori Academy in Westland to a new state-of-the-art big-screen TV video game and other hands-on education activities that inform youth about how to recycle properly. The curriculum was developed by EGLE in partnership with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Outdoor Adventure Center.

American Montessori Academy in Westland is a 2025-2026 Michigan Green School at the Evergreen Level, the highest honor awarded by EGLE, for completing more than 20 sustainability activities in the last year in the areas of reduce/reuse/recycle, energy, environmental protection, and outreach.

Westland’s American Montessori Academy (AMA) recycled the most materials in the school’s history this year under the leadership of instructor Manny Jones and the AMA’s Green Team by recycling a total of 73% of all school waste. In addition, for the first time in American Montessori Academy history, every classroom has a dedicated recycling program catered to their particular classroom makeup.

EGLE will also have all six of its Recycling Raccoon Squad mascots on hand to entertain and engage with the youth.

WHEN:   

 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 22

WHERE: 

Michigan DNR Outdoor Adventure Center 1801 Atwater Street, Detroit

WHO:               

EGLE Materials Management Division Director Tracy Kecskemeti

Michigan DNR OAC Director Melissa Sharp

At least two students from American Montessori Academy in Westland will be available for interviews and to go on camera

INFO:  

EGLE’s new recycling rate record announcement coincides with Michigan recognizing Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22, as proclaimed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/proclamations/2026/04/22/april-22-2026-earth-dayThis annual event is celebrated to raise awareness about environmental issues and promote actions to protect the planet. In Michigan, Earth Day is observed with activities including sustainability initiatives, environmental cleanups, and educational events.

From fiscal year (FY) 2024 to 2025, Michiganders increased their recycling to a total tonnage of 800,940 tons. Michiganders recycled more than 60,000 tons of glass, 577,000 tons of paper and paper products, and 41,000 tons of plastics and plastic products. 

This equates to every person in Michigan recycling nearly 158 pounds of cardboard boxes, milk cartons, soup cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and jars, food waste and other recyclable materials over a 12-month span, EGLE researchers found.

The combined total of recyclables is the equivalent of the weight of 10 Mackinac Bridges and would fill the football stadiums of the Detroit Lions, University of Michigan and Michigan State University, plus filling the 125-acre Detroit Zoo.

More Fun Facts

• If the 800,940 tons of material were in recycling carts side by side, they would stretch around the moon over three times!
• If the amount of paper, metal, glass, and plastic were in recycling carts, they would stretch from:
  • Traverse City to Detroit: 50 round-trips
  • Lansing  to Detroit: 142 round-trips
  • Saginaw - Detroit: 125 round-trips
  • Kalamazoo - Detroit: 91 round-trips
  • Grand Rapids - Detroit: 81 round-trips
  • Alpena -  Detroit: 51 round-trips
  • Marquette - Detroit: 28 round-trips
• If you spread all 800,940 tons of Michigan’s residential recyclables collected last year across every elementary‑school playground in the state, the pile would be nearly 50 feet deep!

Changing Behaviors & Increasing Confidence

Data from EGLE statewide surveys of more than 1,000 Michiganders in 2018 and 2025 show the ongoing national award-winning “Know It Before You Throw It” recycling education campaign, featuring the Recycling Raccoon Squad, has generated tremendous positive impact on Michiganders:

• Nearly 4 in 5 Michiganders report a positive impact on their household recycling after seeing the campaign, including changing recycling habits and becoming more mindful to follow recycling rules.
• More than 3 in 4 Michiganders (76%) in 2025 reported being confident about what materials they can recycle.
  • Up 19% since 2018 when only 64% felt confident.
• 77% of Michiganders agree there are clear-cut rules about what can be recycled.
  • Up 17% from 2018 when only 66% agreed.
• 7 in 10 people know where to double-check recycling rules in 2025,
  • Up from only 5 in 10 in 2018.
• 4 out 5 Michiganders say they’d like to learn more about at least one recycling topic.

The improved recycling performance is helping Michigan advance the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan, commissioned by Governor Gretchen Whitmer as a roadmap to a sustainable, prosperous, healthy, equitable, carbon-neutral Michigan economy by 2050. Carbon neutrality is the global science-based benchmark for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most devastating and costly impacts of climate change.

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.

Recycling Access Improves

More Michiganders than ever have access to recycling services.

EGLE and national nonprofit The Recycling Partnership have together rolled out more than 353,000 new curbside recycling carts in 35 communities statewide, serving more than a combined 1.2 million Michiganders since 2019.

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