Detroit sites recycling bins at bus stops

The Detroit Department of Public Works (DPW) has placed more than three dozen recycling bins at bus stops located in the city and has added two electric-powered collection trucks to its municipal waste collection fleet.

The newly placed containers for recyclable items have been installed at 42 of what the city considers high-traffic bus stops along key commercial corridors. The barrel-shaped bins can accept the same items residents put in their blue city recycling containers for curbside pick-up, with DPW anticipating beverage bottles and cans will be the predominant items collected.

They should not be used for plastic bags, Styrofoam or any containers that still have food in them, according to DPW.

“We had great feedback and results from our pilot project with very low contamination compared with other recycling and waste diversion efforts, so we’re excited to roll this out to a larger part of the city to support our transit community,” DPW Deputy Director Sam Krassenstein says. "We expect them to be well used.”

The program will be expanded during the 2025-2026 fiscal year to add recycling containers to nearly 800 stops citywide, using $500,000 in funds budgeted through an allocation spearheaded by District 2 Councilmember Angela Whitfield-Calloway.

Separately, the city has placed recycling containers at 25 parks throughout the city and now has a service for residents through which they can request a free recycling cart for their homes by visiting the Improve Detroit or DPW websites.

The new collection trucks are the department’s first 100 percent battery electric municipal solid waste (MSW) collection vehicles, according to DPW.

The new trucks include one automatic side loader for picking up residential MSW containers and a rear loader for manually collected items.  The department says it will test the vehicles to evaluate them for possible expansion throughout its fleet.

The department held a news conference last week where it displayed the two collection trucks and the new recycling bins.

“A central mission of DPW is to keep Detroit clean and adding zero-emission vehicles to our fleet is another way we can do that,” Krassenstein said at the event. “In addition to producing less air and noise pollution, electric vehicles typically have a lower operating cost as well as lower maintenance costs due to having fewer moving parts.”

The purchase cost for the two new vehicles and charger was $1.8 million, with $1.2 million of it covered by a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy fuel transformation grant.

The vehicles can charge overnight and run for up to eight hours on a single charge, according to the department.

Although the DPW news release does not mention the manufacturer of the new trucks, a photo issued by the department shows branding for Iowa-based collection truck provider New Way and a battery array with Mack Trucks branding on one of the vehicles.