Beyond Curbside Recycling: What Can I Do With Other Materials?
Picture this: it’s the night before trash day, and you’re gathering up all of your recycling to put in your curbside cart. But you start coming across items you’re just not quite sure about. You see this old jacket you outgrew last winter that’s been sitting in the back of your closet. Then, you spot the iconic Bag of Bags, you know the one everyone has under their sink or stuck behind things in a cupboard, where you put all the new plastic bags you get at the grocery store? Well, yours is overflowing, and you know you’ll never use that many. And what about the old books your kids just spilled water on? The bag of dead batteries you’ve been saving in your fridge but never figured out what to do with? Last week’s spaghetti you just couldn’t finish all of?
It was then that you began to wonder, if these things can’t go in the recycling cart, where should they go?
Lucky for you, we’ll be going through a few different items to talk more about options for Detroit residents to bring them! Keep reading so we can answer all your questions on all things waste.
(And as always, remember that personal consumer responsibility, and behaviors like whether or not you recycle or create a certain amount of waste, is only part of the solution to our solid waste problem. Advocacy for better regulations for large companies, stricter packaging laws, and more quality items that don’t feed into planned obsolescence are crucial.)
Textiles
We all know that we can donate bags of clothes to a thrift shop, but we can’t always guarantee that they’ll end up getting a second life. Here are some local and more secure ways of getting textiles (which also can include some home goods like blankets, shoes, sheets, curtains, etc.) back into a closed loop system:
Simple Recycling is a service that offers home pick ups and drop-off locations in the Metro Detroit area. While many Detroit zip codes aren’t yet serviced for pick ups, there are a few drop off locations nearby, and other Metro Detroit towns are within their service region. They sort clothes based on quality and will either get sent to thrift stores or are processed into raw materials to be reused.
Clothing swaps can be a fun way to participate as a community in sustainable fashion. Locally, ReVamp hosts regular, large-scale events and ensures that any leftover clothes after events go to nonprofits with a need for clothing. If you just can’t wait for their next event, you can throw your own clothing swap party with your most fashionable friends and family!
If you have clothes that just don’t have a second life left in them, there’s always Trashie. Trashie is a mail-in program designed to collect clothes that still have life or are at the end of life, everything is sorted and graded for reuse, upcycling, or recycling to help keep textiles out of landfills.
Film Plastics
While not accepted in curbside carts because of their ability to tangle sorting machines, film plastics can be recycled at drop-off facilities
Recycle Here! in Detroit accepts clean stretchy film plastics like grocery bags, saran wrap, and anything else you can pull and stretch with your hands
Many grocery stores will have collection bins in the front of the store for plastic grocery bags
Styrofoam, Hardcover Books, Shredded Paper
These products all don’t belong in our curbside carts, but just like the other items discussed here, can still be diverted from landfills!
All of these items could be reused in crafts and art if you’re feeling creative!
Another plug for Recycle Here!, where all of these items can be brought to be recycled
Batteries
Some items can become dangerous if they find their way into curbside carts. Battery fires from lithium ion and rechargeable batteries are increasingly common at recycling collection facilities, and batteries cannot be recycled through these streams anyway.
Find a drop off location through the Battery Network or visit EGLE’s website for more information
Lightbulbs, Chemicals, etc. (Household Hazardous Waste)
Also potentially dangerous, household hazardous waste (HHW) includes items like paint, e-waste or old electronics, floor care items, furniture polish, bathroom cleaners, lawn and garden chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, antifreeze, motor oil, gasoline, automotive batteries, dry cell batteries, propane tanks, mercury containing thermometers, thermostats and elemental mercury, fluorescent light bulbs (standard and compact), smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, Pharmaceutical Waste (Non -controlled Substances only).
These items are accepted at the Detroit Department of Public Works Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Receiving Facility at 2000 E. Ferry Street (near I-75 and I-94) (313) 923-2240 Every Thursday from 7:30 am – 2:00 pm and every fourth Saturday of the Month from 8:00 am – 2:00 pm. This facility is open to Detroit residents ONLY, and it’s FREE!
Wayne County hosts 4 drop-offs a year for HHW and has vouchers for residents to be able to drop off items outside of those collection dates
Yard Waste and Bulk
This one seems like an obvious no-go for your blue recycling carts, but you’d be surprised at the kind stuff that ends up at the sorting facilities! Yard waste can be especially annoying because it can easily contaminate a whole load of recycling. Facilities can’t recover dirty materials, and lawn clippings, rotting leaves, or other debris can quickly dirty up cardboard, paper, and other materials that do belong in your curbside carts.
Yard waste and bulk will get picked up biweekly in Detroit through mid December. If you’re not sure when your service dates are, check the Waste Pickup Schedule tool!
Free drop-off facilities in the City are also an option for immediate disposal
Southfield Yard (12255 Southfield Service Drive) Monday - Saturday, 8AM – 6PM
Davison Yard (8221 W. Davison) Monday - Saturday, 8AM – 6PM
J. Fons Transfer Station (6451 E. McNichols) Monday through Friday, 8AM – 4PM and Saturday, 8AM – 1PM
Compost/Food Scraps
Compost is organic waste that includes food waste! In landfills, decomposing foods gives off bad odors and gasses, and the nutrients won’t get returned to the natural cycles in nature. When composted, those nutrients can be turned into rich soils to grow more food.
You can fill out an interest form for Detroit’s composting drop-off service and learn more here
There are a few other programs and organizations that will take your food scraps too, like Scrap Soils
If you’re in need of compost for your garden, check out Sanctuary Farms!
You could always set up your own composting system if you have the space and ability to
Follow the Green Task Force’s Organics Committee to stay in the know about what’s going on in the local organics waste stream
Have something else you’re not quite sure about? You can always check Michigan’s Recycling Directory for more information, give GLS a call at (313)871-4000 ext.3, or contact or waste hauler. If you’re ever debating whether or not something truly belongs in your cart or can be recycled, we like to say “When in doubt, throw it out!” Contamination, or nonrecyclable items that end up in the curbside cart waste stream, can cause problems at sorting facilities, cause loads of actual recyclable materials to get rejected, and will ultimately just end up in the landfill anyway.
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