ABOUT
Circular Michigan is an initiative of the Michigan Recycling Coalition (MRC). The MRC fosters sustainability by leading, educating, and mobilizing businesses, governments, nonprofits, and individuals to advance their own and collective resource use and recovery initiatives in Michigan. In the course of our over 40 year history, the MRC has been a leader in recycling advocacy, convening stakeholders through networking and learning opportunities, coordinating to create common purpose solutions, and growing recycling education through development of information, resources, and tools.
For a long time, the responsibility to manage materials at the end of their useful life has fallen on individuals and local governments. Incredible progress has been made, but just like a circle ends at its beginning, we can't really close the loop on materials management without connecting the beginning—producers—to that end. And that's not a controversial concept in Michigan!
When asked to agree or disagree that:
Companies that produce and/or package should help fund the system to ensure residents have access to recycling options for product packaging
Michiganders from across demographic groups support closing the loop on materials management.
Michigan has a goal to reach a 45% recycling rate as a state. There is no one solution that can accomplish that goal, but Producer Responsibility is another tool, and a key priority of the MRC, as we work to create a Michigan where
Natural resources are managed to the environmental & economic benefit of every community
All possible uses for a given material are exhausted before being managed as waste
Waste is managed in a way that causes minimal harm to habitat, wildlife, and the environment
Recycling and composting are vital, sustainable services and collected materials have value
Producer Responsibility is one of four priorities of the MRC to help Michigan reach its recycling goals
RESPONSIBILITY - we can foster interest in producer responsibility solutions throughout the lifecycle of targeted materials
ORGANICS - we can drive the productive management of organic waste by promoting the manufacturing and use of compost
MARKETS - we can increase the demand for recycled materials by supporting the development and feeding of end markets
ACCESS - we can increase the supply of recycled materials by assuring access to services and programming