Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision

Clark Park Recycling Day - Detroit Curbside Recycling - What to Recycle & Where? -  Recycling through Arts & Scraps

Recycling in Southwest Detroit (Clark Park)

     Good neighbors are producing good rubbish.  SDEV and the Clark Park Coalition continue to co-sponsor the recycling mobile facility at Clark Park in Southwest Detroit.  The mobile facility has been in operation since July 2008, and is open from 8:00am - 12:00pm on the fourth Saturday of every month.  Our community, including local residents and businesses, participating schools and non-profit organizations, and even our local fire fighters have all contributed and participated in the recycling program. In the past fifteen months, 41,405 pounds of trash was turned in at the recycling facility.  This means that 41,405 pounds of trash was kept out of the land fills and out of the incinerator and was recycled!  An increase in recycling leads to  a cleaner and healthier community, including healthier air.  Although this number may seem high we really need to boost up our numbers in terms of more residents participating.  It is very important that more people participate in the recycling program.  If the city sees that our community has a great interest in recycling, we can be the next neighborhood to receive curbside recycling service. 

Thank you to all who have become regular participants and also to some new faces we have seen.  Please continue to spread the word about recycling.  Our goal is to become a green community.  We can do it! 

**For more information on Clark Park Recycling events see our upcoming events page.  To Volunteer at a Clark Park Recycling event see our Volunteer page.**

City of Detroit Department of Public Works (DPW) Pilot Curbside Recycling Program

The City of Detroit is moving right along with the Pilot Curbside recycling program that is operating in the East and West sides of the city.  About 30,000 households have had curbside recycling service since July 1, 2009.  Prior to the initial start date, community forums were conducted city-wide to raise awareness about recycling and to educate Detroiters about the do’s and do not’s of the curbside program.  As part of community outreach, fliers and leaflets were mailed to residents and postcard size recycling literatures were mailed with residents water bills throughout the summer.

     For those areas in the city that are not in the pilot service area recycle bins (ten-cubic yard size dumpsters) have been placed in the City of Detroit’s DPW yards for the residents to drop of their (clean) recyclable items.  Recyclable materials that are currently accepted in both the curbside service and the DPW yards are Paper materials, Cardboard, Plastics and Metals.  For further questions concerning recycling, call 311 or (313) 224-INFO or visit the City’s Web site at www.detroitmi.gov.           

     The city is continuing to work very hard to get a higher participation rate and therefore the DPW Pilot recycling committee, comprised of seven environmental organizations in partnership with the City of Detroit’s Department of Public Works, brainstormed ideas to have more residents participate in the recycling program.  As a result, a new approach is in process by involving the Detroit Public Schools.  Currently, there are ten Detroit Public Schools that will be making comprehensive efforts to help the city’s Department of Public Works increase resident participation.  The goal is to have pilot area schools to practice recycling in their schools, thus teaching the children how to recycle and encouraging them to recycle at home.