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Organics Recycling

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1. My organics cart was not picked up on my scheduled day. What should I do?

Vierkant will be picking up and emptying carts until the evening hours on their daily routes, especially when construction impedes their daily progress. Please wait to bring your carts inside if they have not been emptied yet as they may still be working to get to your neighborhood. If your cart does get accidently missed for pick up, please call Vierkant as soon as possible to request it be emptied. Their main office number is 612-922-2505.

2. What day is my organics recycling picked up/How frequently is the cart emptied?

Organics recycling is picked up every week, the same day as your regular trash day.

 

Enter your address or just click your home area on this interactive map to see your collection day and annual schedule. For a downloadable calendar (PDF), visit the Pickup Schedules page.

 

3. What can I put in my organics cart?

• All food: fruits and vegetables; meat, fish and bones; dairy products; eggs and eggshells; pasta; beans and rice; bread and cereal; and nuts and shells.
• Food-soiled paper: pizza boxes from delivery, napkins and paper towels and paper egg cartons.
• Certified compostable products: compostable paper and plastic cups, plates, bowls, utensils and containers (look for the term “compostable” or the BPI logo on certified products).
• Other compostable household items: coffee grounds and filters; hair and nail clippings; cotton balls and swabs with paper stems; houseplants and flowers; tea bags and wooden items such as chopsticks, popsicle sticks and toothpicks.

Yard waste is not allowed. Here’s a downloadable guide to Organics Recycling

4. Can tea bags go into the organics bin?

Yes, tea bags can go in there. A couple things to make sure of first though: 1) make sure it is the paper bag kind of tea bag, not the plastic netting ones. The plastic ones are usually triangular. If they are the plastic kind, you can open them up and put the leaves into your organics bin, but the plastic part must be disposed of in the garbage can. 2) If your tea bag has a small metal staple on the top, remove that beforehand putting it in the bin.

5. Can I use regular plastic bags to collect organics?

No. Plastic bags are not compostable and are a contaminant. You risk turning an entire load of compostable material into garbage if you use plastic bags. Use bags labeled “BPI-certified compostable.” These bags can be purchased at retail locations such as Jerry’s Do it Best Hardware, Cub, Lunds & Byerly’s, and your local co-op.

 Paper grocery bags are acceptable, as are lawn and leaf bags. These types of bags are good for drier items like fruit peels. Paper bags are not ideally suited for wet items like coffee grounds, and we highly recommend using the green compostable film bags for dairy and meat products to reduce pests. 

6. Do the materials have to be bagged before putting inside the cart?

No. The bagging of organics is a guidance based on what has worked best previously. It is highly recommended for all dairy and meat items, as these tend to create smell. Larger and dry items can certainly be put directly into the cart without bagging.

7. How is organics recycling different from backyard composting?

You can compost more materials with organics recycling than in your backyard compost bin. Large-scale commercial composting facilities maintain higher temperatures than backyard compost bins. These temperatures are needed to kill bacteria and break down items that cannot be composted in a backyard compost bin, including meat, bones, dairy products and compostable plastics. Backyard composting is still a great option for recycling fruit and vegetable scraps and yard waste into a soil amendment that you can use at home.

 If you’re currently composting in your backyard, please don’t stop. Backyard composting is higher on our waste reduction strategy than curbside organics recycling, and it’s a practice that should be celebrated.

8. What is the difference between biodegradable vs compostable?

In terms of organics recycling, compostable items are materials which will break down at the commercial composting facility. Biodegradable items may also be compostable, but some of these items take hundreds of years to break down and therefore we do not want them in the curbside organics carts. An example of this would be chewing gum.

9. How do I know if the item is for recycling bin or for the compost/organics recycling bin?

Items which go in the organics recycling bin need to say "100% compostable" on them or be some type of food waste. If it will not break down into dirt, we do not want it in the organics recycling cart. If it has a number in a triangle on it, or is an inorganic material, it also should not go into the organics recycling bin. Please go to our traditional recycling webpage for more information about what can and cannot be placed in your regular recycling bin.

 

10. I live in an apartment/condo and I would like to participate. How do I get started?

Your housing association can work directly with your current waste hauler to offer this service. Apartments, condos, and all high-density housing complexes can have a significant environmental impact, both good and bad. It’s important that organics recycling is offered to everyone.

11. Do businesses in Edina participate in the organics recycling program?

Several businesses in Edina do participate in organics recycling through their refuse haulers. All large businesses in Hennepin County are required to start doing this by January 1, 2022.  Learn more about Edina’s Green Business Recognition Program here. There are even grants available to help businesses get started!

12. What should I do if I want to participate, but I don't have room in my garage?

There are a few solutions you could try: 1) Replace your yard waste cart with lawn and leaf bags. Most people do not use their yard waste container all 12 months of the year. 2) Store your cans outside. This is allowable. 3) Share a cart with your neighbors who have bigger garages!

13. What are the benefits of organics recycling?

(Information from the International Composting Foundation)

• The use of landfill space and incineration can be reduced by at least one-third when organics are recycled. 
• Methane, a greenhouse twenty-five times as powerful as carbon dioxide, can be significantly reduced through the recycling of organics instead of their being landfilled.
• Soil health and productivity is dependent on organic matter – the essence of compost -- to provide the sustenance for the biological diversity in the soil. Plants depend on this to convert materials into plant-available nutrients and to keep the soil well-aerated. Additional benefits include the reduced need for pesticide usage to ward off soil-borne and other plant diseases.
• Compost offers a significant answer to climate change mitigation.  Compost’s return to the soil serves as a “carbon bank,” helping to store carbon thereby removing it from the atmosphere.
• Compost is a huge benefit for both water conservation and quality. When used in water quality projects, compost bind pollutants to the organics material and prevents them from entering our lakes, wetlands, streams and rivers. Soil erosion is mitigated, and water-holding capacity improved through compost’s enhancement of soil structure, binding soil particles together.
• Supports a local economy. About 700 jobs are supported by Minnesota’s composting industry, which produces $148 million in gross economic activity per year. The composting industry supports four to eight times more jobs on a per ton basis than landfilling operations.

 

14. Why is Organics Recycling part of Edina’s services?

The City of Edina strives to be a leader among cities in sustainable practices and in making the changes necessary to address climate change.

In response to the State of Minnesota directing the counties in Minnesota to reduce the amount of waste that goes to a landfill (see state statutes here), Hennepin County implemented an ordinance to require cities in the county make organic collection available to the residents by Jan. 1, 2022.

The Edina City Council approved a curbside residential collection program in March 2019, which went into effect in summer 2020. The city’s solid waste ordinances may be viewed here.

The organics program was built using the same model as the existing recycling program, where every single-family, double- and multi-unit properties up to eight will receive a cart to get maximum participation in the program.

15. How much does this program cost me?

During the time period between July 2021 thru July 2022, the cost will be $4.50 per month. The charge will appear on quarterly utility bills from the City of Edina with the regular recycling costs. After July 2022, the cost is et to return to the normal rate of $5.50 per month.

16. Can I change the size of my organics cart?

Residents may request to change the size of their cart.  Vierkant Disposal will change the size one time in a 12-month period. To make such a request, call Vierkant at 612-922-2505.

The standard size of the organics carts being delivered to homes is 35 gallons – the smallest available.

17. Can I opt out or decline a cart?

You can decline or return your cart by contacting the Organics Recycling Coordinator Twila Singh at 952-826-1657 or [email protected]. Email is preferred so that the address is accurate. While you are not required to keep the cart, this is a citywide utility service, in addition to our traditional recycling, and the cost cannot be removed from your utility bill.

18. Where does the stuff I put in the organics cart go?

The organics collected curbside are taken to a commercial facility in Shakopee, Minnesota, and recycled into compost, a nutrient-rich material that is used in landscaping and road construction projects to improve our soil. The facility is open for public tours and more information can be found here.

19. I want to promote this on social media. Which hashtags should I use?

We encourage residents to use the hashtag #EdinaRecycles when posting about their recycling achievements on social media.

20. What about these jumping worms I heard about?

At the composting facility, the piles of materials which are broken down into compost are temperature monitored. The piles are kept above 131-160 degrees for weeks straight. Jumping worms die between 85-104 degrees for 3 consecutive days. We have chosen to partner with a reputable industrial composting facility and jumping worms have not been an issue in their products.  

21. How can I prevent or get rid of maggots in my organics recycling cart?

Remember that this is a temporary problem, unique to our beautiful Minnesota summers. One suggestion which has worked well thus far, has been to line the organics cart with a lawn and leaf bag. Then deposit the bagged organics into the lawn and leaf bag, and close that inside the cart. This works especially well if the green compostable bags are used in conjunction with the lawn and leaf bags. The idea is to create a physical barrier between the material and the flies.

From the City of Minneapolis website: “Maggots are a common, naturally occurring problem with many organics recycling programs.  Even if you didn’t see them, maggots were commonly found in garbage carts before the City implemented the organics recycling program. Maggots are fly larvae and occur when flies lay eggs on organic materials.  Maggots are more common in warmer temperatures.  To prevent maggots inside your organics recycling cart, you must prevent mature flies from laying eggs in on your food scraps by eliminating odors and reducing their access to organic materials. A physical barrier works best.

If you find them in your cart, try leaving the lid open for a couple of hours, the City of Minneapolis recommends. Maggots will crawl to the top of the cart and often be eaten by birds.