Community Education

We believe it is extremely important for us to inform the public on the economic and environmental benefits of recycling.  Our Community Education section seeks to communicate those issues as well as provide resources to teachers and administrators.  Much of what we do revolves around our slogan of providing “solutions for the next generation”, and part of that solution is engaging that next generation.

New this year is the creation of Ecomaniacs.  Founded by Millennium Recycling, you’ll see The Ecomaniacs out at summer events around Sioux Falls helping to keep our City clean as well as spreading the message of recycling and sustainability.  Click on our banner to find out more information on volunteering to be part of our team, or how you can be a sponsor.   

Recycling has a great story to tell.  The National Recycling Coalition reports that recycling creates 1.1 million jobs which equates to over $37 billion in annual payrolls.  In Sioux Falls alone, Millennium Recycling has added 90 employees since our beginning in 1999. 

In that same time period, the amount of material we process in and around the Sioux Falls area has increased 5 fold.  Our end user customers make everything from cardboard containers, cereal boxes, carpet, paper towels, aluminum sheet, egg cartons, insulation…to name just a few products.  These same companies actively source new supplies of recyclables for use as raw material to make the products we buy everyday at our local grocery stores, shopping centers, and home improvement outlets.   

Recycling requires significantly less energy to make new products than using virgin materials (95% less energy in the case of aluminum cans), so the question becomes: why not recycle?