About Us
MissionOur Mission is to inspire an environmentally conscious culture in Northern Michigan and beyond by educating people on the long-term value of recycling and making recycling and green choices simple and accessible to individuals and organizations across the region.
Our vision is to create a more environmentally conscious, service-minded, connected community. We strive to achieve our vision by committing to making responsible waste management the easy, convenient choice and by continually reinvesting our profit in our community and adhering to our core values: educate, inspire, give, connect, and serve.
Bay Area Recycling for Charities (BARC) was started in 2008 with one man, one truck and one revolutionary idea: Increase recycling efforts in communities through service, education, and charitable donation.
We now have 20 full-time employees, eight trucks, and dozens of trailers to help manage our local recycling efforts. Our fleet also boasts 4 semi trucks and 15 semi-trailers for larger projects. In addition to all this wonderful growth, we are proud to report that on average we give over $25,000 worth of in-kind good and services–including compostables, waste services, and fundraising event support–to other local nonprofits.
Season’s Greetings! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to our BARC family! We hope you are staying safe and healthy during this holiday season. Even though we may be traveling less and limiting our gatherings, our Christmas’s can still be the most wonderful time of the year. American household waste increases by about 25% between Thanksgiving […] Read Full Article ⟩
We’re Ready to Go Back to School Although summer is starting to cool down, we have big plans for the month of August – it’s time to go back to school! 2020 has been a year of twists and turns, but with many schools planning to open back up in the fall, BARC is here […] Read Full Article ⟩
Composting 101 Do you compost? If not, why not? Composting has many benefits and is a wonderful way to reduce your food waste, grow a thriving garden, and contribute to a healthier planet. You may think it’s dirty, complicated, or labor-intensive, but the practice of composting is actually very approachable. We gathered some of the […] Read Full Article ⟩
Electronic Waste Stream in Michigan Were you aware that electronic waste also known as “e-waste” is the fastest growing waste stream in Michigan? Electronics can be defined as anything with a battery or power cord and can have many harmful chemicals in them. It is important that your electronics get properly recycled and don’t end […] Read Full Article ⟩
What to do with defuncted electronics If you are like many people, you have defunct electronics laying around your home. Perhaps it is an old TV, spent batteries, last year’s cell phone, or an ancient laptop or desktop computer. In fact, 75% of old electronics in existence are still in people’s homes. Whatever the case, […] Read Full Article ⟩
My How we a have Grown BARC is growing and giving! We are always striving to achieve our mission’s objectives of recycling and giving back to the many local non-profit within the our Northern Michigan community. In addition to residential and business recycling, we have grown our services to create a larger impact. We would […] Read Full Article ⟩
The art of composting has several different factors that work together to create an organic matter. Broken down by microorganisms into this usable form, it aids in environmental well-being while offering nutrients rich for plant growth. The benefits are seen daily, from reducing methane emissions in landfills to minimizing the need for chemical fertilizers. […] Read Full Article ⟩
In America, we dispose of nearly 20 million mattresses each year. This leads to taking up around 132,000 square miles of landfill space. With the normal lifespan of a mattress being a mere 7-8 years, this can add up quickly to become a staggering statistic. Using mattress recycling is a great way to not only […] Read Full Article ⟩
