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

Lansing's Patrick E. 01). 03 makes separation mandatory for three classes of property. Owners, lessees or occupants at a single residential site of generation must separate recyclable materials and yard waste from solid waste and prepare them for recycling. Multiple residential facilities (five or more units, or mobile home parks) must do the same, and owners may satisfy the duty through on-site collection they run themselves, a contract with a licensed waste hauler, in-unit storage containers paired with hauler or City pickup, or a case-by-case Public Service Department contract.

Nonresidential entities, meaning any use other than a single-family home or a small multifamily building, face the identical separation duty and the same collection options. The City supplies each residential unit a City-owned recycling container at no charge; it stays City property, and a lost or extra container is sold at a Council-set fee. Once recyclables or yard waste are placed in the right-of-way, only a Public Service Department employee may pick them up, an anti-scavenging rule that bars anyone else, including private haulers or the public, from taking the material.

Residents may compost yard waste and fruit or vegetable scraps on their own property without violating the chapter, as long as the pile does not create a nuisance, a health hazard, or offensive odor past the property line. Burning yard waste anywhere in the City is flatly prohibited. Waste haulers who pick up City recyclables or yard waste may not dump it in a landfill, and raking yard waste into a street or alley is also a violation. 03(b) bars landlords from charging tenants a volume-based recycling fee and requires the recycling collection point at multifamily buildings to sit no farther from the unit than the curb or parking area used for regular trash.