Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

SOCRRA provides free recycling collection to schools located in our member communities  in Michigan (Berkley, Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Clawson, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Lathrup Village, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Troy).  For more information on SOCRRA's School Recycling Program, call SOCRRA at 248-288-5150. For information about recycling carts for schools, click here.

Free recycling for schools in socrra:

How does the recycling program work? SOCRRA staff will visit your site to assist in setting up a program that will work for your location. Free recycling bins or carts are provided by SOCRRA and placed at various locations throughout the building to make recycling as convenient as possible for staff and students. The school will empty recycling bins as needed, and store materials in SOCRRA provided bins, carts or in clear plastic bags.  

Once a week, you will set recyclable materials outside for collection in a designated area in provided bins. In some cases, the recyclables are collected by the same trucks that pickup from residential homes in the area.

What materials are recycled?

SOCRRA's Mixed Recycling program allows all recyclables to be collected in one bin.  SOCRRA collects paper, metal, plastic, cartons and glass. For a full list of materials, check out the Mixed Recycling page.  

Best Practices for Success

SOCRRA recommends using enough bins to make recycling very convenient for everyone. Ideally, a mixed recycling bin should always be placed next to a trash bin.

Start your program with a great kick-off. This can be done through daily announcements, memos to teachers and staff, or even presentations. SOCRRA can provide signs, memos and information to assist you in getting the message out that your school recycles.

After your recycling program has been running for several months, we suggest that you perform a trash sort to determine how much recyclable material is being trashed. We would be glad to assist you with this. Conducting a trash sort is one of the best ways to determine how your recycling program is working. A trash sort it is not nearly as bad as it sounds! 

Who do I contact to get started?

If you have any questions about this program, please call SOCRRA at 248-288-5150 or e-mail us at socrra@socrra.org. We work with schools located in our member communities, which are located in Oakland County, Michigan. We look forward to working with your school to establish a recycling program that meets your needs. 

Are you a Michigan Green School?

The Michigan Green Schools program is coordinated through the Oakland Intermediate School District.  Recycling is one of the required criteria to become a Michigan Green School — why not let SOCRRA help you start a program at your school?

For more information about Green Schools:

Resources:

Back to School Recycling (Video):  This video provides an overview of what and how to recycle at schools in SOCRRA communities in Michigan.  This is a great tool to use at the beginning of the school year to kick-off your program and remind students about recycling while at school.

Taking the Next Step at your School (Video): Cafeteria Recycling:  For schools looking to divert even more material from the trash, the cafeteria is full of opportunities.  Learn about how to set up a cafeteria recycling program, modeled by Pierce Elementary School in Birmingham, Michigan.