Flint, MI Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Flint's curbside recycling program operates under Chapter 39 of the Flint Code and the Priority Waste contract extended by City Council in November 2023. Beginning September 16, 2024, every City of Flint household received one 64-gallon blue recycling cart at no cost - a citywide rollout of approximately 60,000 carts funded by a $1 million Michigan EGLE grant and a $3.3 million grant from The Recycling Partnership; the program's projected impact is a 750% increase in recycled tonnage (from ~624 tons/year to ~5,400 tons/year). Accepted curbside materials are: paper and cartons (newspaper, junk mail, magazines, mixed paper, gable-top cartons); flattened cardboard and box board (cereal boxes, shoe boxes); aluminum and steel food and beverage cans, aerosol cans, foil trays; clear and colored glass bottles and jars; and plastic bottles, jugs, storage containers, and tubs (Priority Waste's Flint published list includes a broad plastic acceptance window - bottles, jugs, jars with screw-top, and tubs - with caps removed and placed loose, and containers rinsed). Materials explicitly NOT accepted at the curbside in Flint: bagged recyclables (place items loose in the cart, not in plastic bags), plastic bags and plastic wrap (return to grocery-store film-bag drop-offs), hoses, cords, wires (tanglers that wrap the MRF sorting equipment), batteries (drop-off at retailer or HHW event), electronics (Michigan electronic waste takeback law, MCL 324.17301 et seq.), food or liquid contamination, polystyrene foam (Styrofoam), food-contaminated cardboard (pizza boxes with grease), plastic cups, plastic silverware, ceramics, bubble wrap, and metal or plastic hangers. Glass and aerosol cans should be intact and not broken or punctured. Michigan state law backing the program is in NREPA Part 115 (MCL 324.11501 et seq.) - Michigan does NOT mandate curbside recycling for cities by population the way Pennsylvania Act 101 does, so Flint's program is locally adopted under home-rule authority rather than mandated by the state.