Running head: POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Evaluation of the Feasibility of

Expanding Recycling Opportunities
throughout Detroit

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Evaluation of the Feasibility of

Expanding Recycling Opportunities
throughout Detroit
by
Mrinnal Muralidhar
Joshua White
Peter Sam
Mace Gatzek

Wayne State University

Feasibility Report
25 April 2016

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Table of Contents

Executive Summary.
Introduction..
Overview of Alternatives.
Criteria.
Method.
Primary Research.
Secondary Research.
Conclusion
Recommendations
Sources.
Appendix..

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Pages 5-11
Pages 5-7
Pages 8-11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Pages 15-17

Executive Summary:
Detroit currently faces a problem with the number of available recycling opportunities for
its citizens, and the best way to solve it is to provide more funding towards alleviating the issue.
Not only does it provide the citizens with a means to help be more eco-friendly and green, but it
also provides them with a chance to help renovate the city and make it cleaner, healthier, and
possibly more profitable. The privatization of Detroits waste management services means that
the city doesnt provide much funding towards recycling and instead pays the bare minimum.

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

We evaluated three possible solutions that the city of Detroit could consider:
1. Continue with their budgeting and assume that volunteer work and external
organizations will provide a noticeable change.
2. Look towards other neighboring cities recycling programs and enact similar change
in the city of Detroit.
3. Provide organizations that specialize in recycling more funding and resources so that
they can work towards eliminating the problem.
The main problem facing the problem-solving effort comes down to funding. Sterling
Heights and Toronto both have larger, more flexible budgets than the city of Detroit. Their
programs may be successful, but the city of Detroit may not be able to afford similar programs.
However, Toronto helps pay for their recycling efforts by selling the recycled material, which
Detroit could attempt, seeing how there are multiple large automotive companies in the area that
would possibly buy their bulk recycled metals and plastics.
We believe the best route to take would be for the city of Detroit to budget more money
towards organizations like Green Living Science and Recycle Here!, as they specialize in
recycling and are more knowledgeable about what may work and may not. They have the means
to expand recycling to more people, but the organizations face a severe lack of resources. The
city could provide them with funds to carry out recycling programs and help provide citizens
with more recycling opportunities.

Introduction:
This report discusses the feasibility of extending more recycling opportunities for citizens
of the city of Detroit, including both private and public entities. The city currently does not
provide enough funding in its budget to provide the city with a detailed, in-depth recycling
program, and it is then in the hands of other organizations and volunteers to help work towards
eliminating a large recycling deficit.
The city of Detroit currently faces a large recycling deficit and is far beyond other major
cities in the nation in terms of recycling and effective solid waste management. The city
currently burns garbage in an incinerator, including thousands of tons of recyclable material each

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

month. The privatization of solid waste management services in Detroit means that the city
budget does not allocate as much money to bring numerous recycling opportunities to the people
of the city.
Since the city is not able to allocate more funds towards alleviating the problems with
recycling in the city, it is then up to external organizations, like Green Living Science and
Recycle Here!, to take control of and extend more recycling opportunities to the city of Detroit.
However, their resources are much more finite than those of a city budget.
Overall, the bulk of the effort lies in the hands of external organizations that specify in
recycling, both education regarding recycling and the actual process of recycling materials. The
city funding can provide more to these organizations and would have to do less work themselves
to help eliminate the lack of recycling.
Our research team consists of four undergraduate students at Wayne State University to help
understand and determine the extent to which Detroit can help make the city more eco-friendly:
Josh White, a second-year Pharmaceutical Science major that works for a dialysis
company and is an avid supporter of Detroit, both the sports teams and the city itself. He is the
group leader and is also responsible for gathering information and data
Peter Sam, a first-year Computer Science major who volunteers at Green Living
Sciences recycling program. He is responsible for conducting the bulk of the research.
Mrinnal Muralidhar, a first-year Computer Science major that volunteers at his local
library and tutors children on computer skills. He is the editor of the group and will oversee the
final product of the report.
Mace Gatzek, a second-year Mechanical Engineering student in the Honors College at
Wayne State that has worked in his field for two years among other jobs. He is responsible for
the graphics of the report and the front matter, as well as the intro, criteria, and alternatives
sections.

Overview of Alternatives:
Furthered recycling opportunities could be made possible throughout the city of Detroit.
With ample time and resources, the city of Detroit could make its way to be one of the greenest
cities in the nation. However, in the current state, it is unlikely for this to come true without the
city and/or its citizens putting in a lot of time and effort to help diminish the problem. There are
three routes that the city of Detroit could take towards enhancing recycling opportunities for its
citizens and general eco-friendliness of the city:
Stick with the current allocation of funds from the city budget. The city of
Detroit could continue to budget accordingly and continue privatization of solid waste
management services in hopes that more citizens will take advantage of the limited recycling

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

opportunities. The city currently provides few options, so they would be placing their faith in
volunteers and organizations that are passionate about making the city cleaner and providing
citizens with the chance to help in the process.
Use other cities recycling programs as a model for improvement. The Detroit
City Council and Solid Waste Management sectors could work together to research the
possibility of using recycling programs from other cities that worked well and provided positive
change in their cities. Sterling Heights, MI and Toronto, CA both have successful recycling
programs in their cities, and certain aspects of their programs could be used in Detroit to a
similar degree.
Provide external organizations with more funding. The city of Detroit could
provide more funding to organizations like Green Living Science and Recycle Here!. These
organizations could then use the boost in resources to enact more change in their specialized
interest of recycling throughout the city. These organizations can help to spread the word among
citizens, including youths at schools, to help provide the information to encourage recycling and
provide them with various ways they can recycle.

Criteria:
Setting up recycling bins in Detroit is a big step to take. Toronto, another major city, has a
exceptional recycling program that has gain tens of millions of dollars to the City of Toronto. If
Detroit went in the same direction as Toronto, it could gain the same profit, but it may not be
feasible to recycle in Detroit like it is in Toronto. There is many data and criteria that can
determine whether it is feasible.
Budget. Detroit does not have enough money to support its own city recycling
organization. According to city council reports, the City of Detroit does not have enough money
in its budget to support a city wide recycling program. Detroit does have enough money to

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

sponsor local nonprofit organizations that already have recycling programs in Detroit like Green
Living Science.
Community Participation. Even though Detroit does not have the budget to support its
own city wide recycling program, there are still many Detroit residents who would like to recycle
their trash. There has been a slight increase in the past year for Detroit residentss willingness to
recycle.
City Protocol. There are many organization that want to see a city wide recycling
program. Many organizations want to see an increase in recycling in the City of Detroit. These
organizations include both private sector and government sector programs. The government
sector programs for recycling are not feasible because of Detroits low budget. Private sector
recycling programs would be more feasible. It would help increase recycling in Detroit. The only
problem is that the City of Detroit will not receive a profit from recycling if it goes with a private
sector recycling program.

Method:
To gain a better understanding of Detroits current recycling situation, we planned to
contact Detroit City Council member Brian Conaway, who is in charge of waste management
throughout the city. We also reached out to the two companies contracted out from Detroit to
take care of waste management, Rizzo Environmental Services and Advanced Disposal.
However, we were unsuccessful in reaching anyone from the three organizations.
We spoke to a representative from Green Living Science, an organization located near
New Center in Midtown, Detroit, regarding recycling, their efforts, and what needs to be done in

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

the city. We tried to get in contact with their partner organization, Recycle Here!, but
unfortunately they did not have time to meet with us.
We also looked to neighboring cities and researched successful recycling programs near
the city of Detroit. Sterling Heights, MI and Toronto, Canada both have successful recycling
programs, Sterling Heights being implemented only five years ago but already seeing positive
results. We analyzed the budgets of each city, how much was committed to recycling and waste
management, and then compared results with those we found regarding Detroit.
Toronto provides another appealing aspect for the city of Detroit, which is the revenue
they make off of the recycled materials they gather. They sell to companies and organizations
around the city and country, which results in massive payout for their extended efforts.

Primary Research
We interviewed Brittany Mitchell, a representative for Green Living Science, regarding
their efforts in Detroit. We were mostly concerned about the possibility of providing bins to
residents of the city, as well as providing larger containers for recycling that could be used for
apartment buildings, neighborhoods, et cetera. We were also curious as to whether or not they
had raw data regarding the amount of material being recycled, where the most/least recycling
occurred, and the overall success of the organization.
Unfortunately for us, Green Living Science was not exactly the resource we were looking
for. Brittany informed us that of the two main recycling entities throughout the city of Detroit,
GLS was primarily responsible for education and outreach. Their goal was to educate the citizens
of Detroit regarding the facts of recycling, what it can do for the city, and the repercussions of
not acting to eliminate the problem. Their partner, Recycle Here!, is responsible for the raw data.
The main groups they reached out to were businesses and schools. They partnered with
40 of the 160 schools within the Detroit Public School system to set up recycling services at the
school and to educate the students about recycling. However, they faced a problem because the
various charter schools set up throughout the area would not partake, as they would not pay for
the recycling units.
GLS also targets businesses to ensure bulk recycling of packaging materials, like plastics and
cardboard, as well as paper and other recyclable materials. In 2016, they granted 11 businesses,
both small and large, the title of being Green Friendly for Detroit, which means they meet a
certain recycling quota and enforce certain protocol to ensure that they recycle as much material
as possible from their businesses.
GLS provides the citizens throughout Detroit with the opportunity for curbside recycling
pickup. The bins are a one-time cost of $25, and they register you with either Rizzo or Advanced
Disposal to ensure they pick up your bin. You can also receive a bin by going to a free volunteer
workshop, in which members of GLS teach you what can and cant be recycled, among other
things. Nearly 15,000 of Detroits 750,000 residents partake in the program, but they want their

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

numbers to expand. They have seen a significant increase over the past year, adding nearly
10,000 residents since early October of 2015.
However, there are still large areas of the city where community involvement is minimal,
which halts their efforts. They do not have the advertising power or manpower to provide the
area with as many workshops as theyd like, because they could then recruit more residents of
the city to engage in weekly recycling.

A map of Detroit showing where residents are registered for curbside recycling pick up. It is heavily used in section
4 on the east side, but the west and southwest still remain largely uninvolved.

Brittany informed us of the difficulties of setting up community recycling for all residents
of Detroit. She said that of the recycled materials coming into Recycle Here!, nearly 40% are
contaminated, deeming them unusable, or costing them much more money to purify the
materials. She said if we were to provide the community with free recycling bins, the lack of
education regarding recycling throughout the city would deem the bins as additional trash cans,
which would hinder the recycling process.
She also says that bins are expensive, and that the organization cant afford to be as
widespread as theyd like. Combined, Recycle Here! And Green Living Science run on a budget
of $375,000 a year, some from the city and some from donations. She believes that were the city

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

to provide them more money, their specialized skills, knowledge, and drive for recycling would
help spread recycling throughout the city.
In 2014, Green Living Science was given a grant from the city of Detroit to help spread
recycling awareness and opportunities to one of the 7 sections throughout the city. They were
very pleased with the results and are currently in conversation with city council members to
determine more funding in the near future. In addition to their successful curbside pickup
throughout their pilot trial, they also had more than 3,000 people a week come into Recycle
Here! or GLS to bring in recyclable materials.
Brittany provided me with the tonnage of recycled materials that Recycle Here! has
brought in since late 2015, and the results show that their efforts are paying off. There is an
increase in the amount of recycled material each month, which she believes shows that their hard
work and dedication is paying off and getting the community more involved in the recycling
process.

The data shows that in six months, GLS and Recycle Here! have increased their input of recyclable material more
than 100 tons. They have been working to increase community involvement in the past two years.

Secondary Research:
We researched the budgets of the three cities: Detroit, Sterling Heights, and Toronto, the
latter two having successful recycling programs implemented throughout their cities. Sterling
Heights program is only five years old, but has shown improvement over those five years in
amount of recycled materials, as well as increased cost for those that dont recycle (meaning

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

recycling is actually cheaper for the city). Torontos recent push towards a greener city has also
provided positive results, as well as provided the city with plenty of funding to pay for their
recycling expenses.
Sterling Heights:
The city made a push for more recycling during 2012, and they have since seen
positive results. Their recycling program makes recycling bins available for purchase for a single
charge of $5, and each month the resident must pay a $4.95 pickup fee to help fund their
operations. In the first month of 2016 alone, more than 5,500 residents signed up for the
program, with an estimated 1,800 more interested in the program.

City

officials are working with private contractors to help alleviate the monthly fee associated with
the recycling pickup, and believe they could save residents more than $0.60 off the monthly fee.
The city is seeing improvement in the amount of materials being recycled, and city officials
believe extended recycling is helping clean up the city and make their residents happier.
The data also shows that although it costs the city more money each year to run recycling
centers, each person that chooses not to engage in the recycling program also costs the city an
increasing amount of money each year. There is a steady increase in residents that partake in the
program, which helps explain, yet also make up for, the increasing costs of running the program.

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Toronto:
Toronto, which has a larger budget than both Sterling Heights and Detroit, also
has an efficient recycling program that has been implemented throughout the city. Like Sterling
Heights and Detroit, they also charge a one-time fee for their bins. However, the offer a range of
sizes, each costing a different amount of money.
Garbage Bin Size

Annual Rate

Approved Rebate

Net Annual Cost

Small

$244.77

$227.01

$17.76

Medium

$297.14

$181.76

$115.38

Large

$403.55

$108.41

$295.14

Extra Large

$468.08

$56.85

$411.23

Bag-Only

$156.69

$215.01

-$58.32

The bins provided in Toronto offer a rebate, which means the residents dont have to pay much to have their
recycling picked up. As incentive, they can also be paid to recycle, as the last row shows.

The average household would purchase the small bin, which would result in a cost
of only a few cents more than a dollar each month. The larger bins are used for businesses and
other organizations, and tax incentives by the local government ensure that the bins arent
overwhelmingly expensive for the companies.
Toronto is home to one of the most successful recycling programs in North
America, and between 2015 and 2016, their community involvement increased from 10% to 45%
in their recycling program. By 2022, they are projected to have 70% waste disposal in their city
based on the current plan, which is one of the highest in the world.

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Profit Made from Recycled Materials

25
20
15

Dollars (in Million USD) 10

5
0
2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Year

A factor that
sets Toronto apart from many other recycling programs in the world is the amount of profit they
make from their recycling program. The city takes the recycled materials, processes them, and
then sells them to businesses around the city and country. Their recycling program doesnt come
at a particularly high cost to the city or its residents because of how much money they receive.
Between 2010 and 2015, the city has made nearly 100 million USD on recycled materials, with
an estimated increase each year.

The city of Toronto brings in roughly $20 million a year to help pay for their recycling program. Detroit could
utilize this method to make up for the lack of funding.

Budget:

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

A significant factor that helps explain the statistics regarding Sterling Heights and
Torontos successful programs stems from their significantly larger budget than Detroit. Not only
do they have higher overall budgets based on their populations, but they in-turn have higher
budgets for waste management and recycling.

Detroit Recycling Budget

Year
2012-2013

Recycling Budget
458,626

Total WM Services budget

2,305,120

2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017

337,934
481,526
580,948

1,478,348
7,202,802*
3,126,291

*Detroit was taken over by an emergency manager to plan the budget during 2016-2016
Toronto Recycling Budget
Year
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017

Recycling budget(millions)
5.6
13.3
5.4
936k
N/A

Sterling Heights Recycling Budget

Year
Recycling
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017

budget(millions)
826K
870K
1.3
811K
796K

WM services
budget(millions)
33.2
31.5
9.1
3.0
2.3
WM services
budget(millions)
7.7
4.5
4.7
4.8
5.3

Between 2012 and 2017 Detroits overall waste management budget has fluctuated, with
a large spike during 2015 and 2016 due to the emergency manager planning the budget.
However, the amount budgeted towards recycling has remained stagnant. Sterling Heights has
had the highest percentage of the three cities in terms of using the waste management budget
specifically for recycling. Toronto has a larger budget overall, which helps result in their
successful spending.

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Toronto and Sterling Heights both have one year where they drastically increase their
spending on recycling, which can be directly related to the years that they decided to draft and
initialize new recycling plans. Detroit has not had such a spike in spending, and although the
emergency manager provided more money to waste management, they did not provide more
funding for recycling. After the spike in recycling money for each city, they experienced less
spending in the following years, which may mean that the initial expenses helped establish a
strong program for each city.

Conclusion
In its current state, the city of Detroit does not have the fiscal power to enact a
widespread recycling program throughout the city that is run by the local government. Compared
to cities like Sterling Heights and Toronto, the city has a much smaller budget, as well as an even
smaller percentage put forth towards solid waste management services. In order to provide
widespread recycling opportunities in Detroit, the city would have to allocate funding that they
dont have.
Waste management for the city of Detroit is not public, as it is a privatized industry. The
city divides waste management services between Rizzo Environmental Services and Advanced
Disposal, and they pay them according to the amount of work they do and the span of the city
that they cover. Enabling further recycling throughout the city would require paying both the
organizations more money, which the city does not have to spare in their budget. Instead,
recycling must be taken over and maintained by separate entities, like Recycle Here! And Green
Living Science.
Secondary organizations specializing in recycling, as well as volunteer work, would be
the most practical means to bringing further recycling opportunities to the people throughout
Detroit. Over the past few years, they have increased community involvement and provided
more than 15,000 residents with the opportunity to recycle from the comfort of their homes. An
influx of funds and resources from the city of Detroit could allow for much more success and
widespread recycling and clean up throughout Detroit.

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Although it is not feasible for the city of Detroit to have a recycling program in Detroit,
There are many other ways to promote recycling in Detroit such as advertising, providing
incentives for residents to recycle, funding nonprofit organizations like Green Living Science. It
is important to make Detroit a cleaner city and that starts off with recycling. Increasing recycling
in Detroit would help make Detroit a greener city.

Recommendations
Ideally, Detroit could publicize their waste management system and allocate much more
funding towards recycling efforts, but the city does not possess as large a budget as Sterling
Heights or Toronto. The answer to solving the lack of recycling opportunities does rely heavily
on money, and although Detroit doesnt have the budget to fully enable various programs, any
money and resources they provide to other organizations could prove very helpful. We believe
that Detroit has a few options to help provide more recycling:
Invest in Green Living Science and Recycle Here!. These two organizations, which
work hand-in-hand to make Detroit more eco-friendly, have connections and methods to provide
further recycling opportunities to more citizens in Detroit. In addition to working with businesses
to recycle in bulk, they also can work with schools to educate the youth and their families in
Detroit about recycling and its importance. Detroit could provide them with resources they
couldnt otherwise access:

Extensive advertising connections, including PSAs through Detroit and

T.V/radio commercials

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Connections to other companies and organizations that work to extend

recycling
Help to provide citizens/businesses with incentives if they are avid
recyclers

Sell recycled materials to businesses throughout metro Detroit. Detroit and

neighboring cities rely heavily on the automotive industry for jobs, and there are various big
companies in the area, including Ford and GM. As a civilization, we are leaning towards a
greener, more eco-friendly world, and recycled materials could be used to build cars and other
products. Toronto has made hundreds of millions of dollars in the past decade off of recycled
materials, and it has helped the city to fund their recycling programs. Detroit could pursue a
similar route, especially since the city doesnt have the funding the enact recycling programs on
its own.

Sources:
Overview - Garbage & Recycling - Services | City of Toronto. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2016,
from http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?
vgnextoid=03ec433112b02410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
Delaney, S. (n.d.). STERLING HEIGHTS: Curbside recycling: Six months later - News - Source
Newspapers. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://www.sourcenewspapers.com/articles/2013/11/07/news/doc527bac0ce214b418184584.txt
Czarnik, E. (n.d.). City switches to new recycling schedule. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://www.candgnews.com/news/city-switches-new-recycling-schedule
Delaney, S. (n.d.). Sterling Heights moves closer to awarding refuse contract - News - Source
Newspapers. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://www.sourcenewspapers.com/articles/2016/03/02/news/doc56d75d654e48d798170302.txt

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Barshaw, B. S. (n.d.). Sterling Heights Budget Message. Retrieved from http://www.sterlingheights.net/DocumentCenter/View/954
Overview - Garbage & Recycling - Services | City of Toronto. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2016,
from http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?
vgnextoid=03ec433112b02410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD
Legal Budget report. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/docs/budgetdept/FY 2016 2019/Financial_Plan_Legal_budget_page_numbered.pdf
Orr, K. D. (n.d.). Two Year Emergency Budget. Retrieved from
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/docs/budgetdept/EM Budget 2015_2016 v2.pdf
K. V., Cronkel. (n.d.). Proposed Capital Agenda. Retrieved from
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/docs/budgetdept/2009-10 through 2013-14/Proposed Capital
Agenda_2008_bookmarked.pdf

Appendix:

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Garbage Bin Size

Annual Rate

Approved Rebate

Net Annual Cost

Small

$244.77

$227.01

$17.76

Medium

$297.14

$181.76

$115.38

Large

$403.55

$108.41

$295.14

Extra Large

$468.08

$56.85

$411.23

Bag-Only

$156.69

$215.01

-$58.32

Profit Made from Recycled Materials

25
20
15
10
Dollars (in Million USD) 5
0

Year

POSSIBILITY OF ENHANCING DETROIT RECYCLING

Detroit Recycling Budget

Year

Recycling Budget

Total WM Services

2012-2013

458,626

budget
2,305,120

2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017

337,934
481,526
580,948

1,478,348
57,202,802
30,126,291

Toronto Recycling Budget

Year
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017

Recycling
budget(millions)
5.6
13.3
7.9
936k
N/A

Sterling Heights Recycling Budget

Year
Recycling
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017

budget(millions)
826K
741K
783K
811k
870k

WM services
budget(millions)
33.2
31.5
9.1
3.0
2.3
WM services
budget(millions)
74.7
4.5
4.7
4.8
5.3