Students join a celebration of record-high Michigan recycling

DNR Outdoor Adventure Center At a beautiful spot along the Detroit River on a bright Earth Day morning, raccoons were among the local fauna. Six of them, to be exact, all there to mark a milestone.

The costumed members of Michigan’s Recycling Raccoon Squad – centerpiece of the “Know It Before You Throw It” educational campaign by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) – joined a group of elementary school students at the Outdoor Adventure Center, operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), to celebrate a record-high rate of recycling by Michiganders for the fifth consecutive year.

The rate now stands at just over 26% – up from 14% before 2019 and on its way toward a goal of 30% by 2029.

The April 22 announcement underscores how recycling is increasingly just part of daily life for millions in Michigan.

In fiscal year (FY) 2025, residents recycled more than 800,000 tons of paper, plastics, glass, and more. That’s enough material fill the football stadiums of the Detroit Lions, University of Michigan, and Michigan State University – with enough left over to blanket the 125-acre Detroit Zoo.

Surveys by EGLE find that nearly four in five residents say recycling availability and information have positively influenced their household habits. Confidence has grown, too. In 2025, 76% of Michiganders reported feeling sure about what can and cannot be recycled, a jump from previous years.

Over a decade, the state and collaborators like The Recycling Partnership have rolled out more than 353,000 curbside recycling carts across 35 communities, expanding access to more than 1.2 million people. For many Michigan households, recycling is now as simple as wheeling a cart to the curb.

As the recognizable furry face of recycling awareness, the Recycling Raccoon mascots – Gladys Glass, Paper MacKay, Nyla P. Lastic, Carlos Cardboard, Precious Metale, and Frank – have done their part. Seven in 10 Michiganders say they now know where to look for their communities’ recycling guidelines, up from just half in 2018. (Usually, it’s on local government websites.)