The Linden Hills Organics Pilot Collection -Info and FAQ
INFORMATION
The City of Minneapolis has approved a curbside collection of compostable items for the neighborhoods of Linden Hills and East Calhoun. It's not too late to join! The program is ongoing and you can sign up any time. Stay tuned for news about "Route 2" in the Seward/Longfellow/Hiawatha area!
Residents of single family, duplexes and fourplexes should have received a letter from the city asking residents to OPT IN to the program. A copy of the letter can be found below (please do not send this letter back to the city if you don't live in Linden Hills or ECCO. It won't do you any good just yet! If you're not sure if you live in LH or not, check www.lindenhills.org).
Recycle even more! Eastside Co-op recycles all the plastics you can't set curbside. Click here for details.
Recycling Organics now mandatory in San Francisco - read here.
Love what we're doing? We could use your support (via financial donation or committee help). Click here for more information.
REQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) COLLECTION:
How does it work? Once you sign up to participate in the pilot (see above), the city will deliver a 65 gallon green "organics" cart to your home. It looks very similar to your normal black wheeled bin that you bring out to the curb before your garbage collector arrives. From then on, you will wheel both bins out to the curb on your regular collection day and the city will take your compostable garbage (green cart), and your non-compostable garbage (black cart). Feel free to call the city and request they replace your large 94 gallon black cart with a smaller version (and save $2 per month) if space is an issue. You'll probably find that there's very little to put in your black cart anyway. Many people find they only need to put their black cart out every 2 weeks -one less chore on garbage night!
What IS compostable? Food scraps, including fruit and vegetable peelings, meat, leftovers, etc. Paper products that you're not currently recycling -(continue to recycle newspaper, office paper, cardboard, corrugated card in your usual manner) that is, tissues, paper towels, egg cartons, pop boxes, paper that's touched food e.g. paper plates, pizza boxes; waxed containers such as milk cartons, and packing from fridge and freezer products. Once this pilot is up and running there should be no paper in your trash at all. Other items that are biodegradable include coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, lint from your dryer, vacuum bags, old potted plants, and unusable old (non-synthetic) clothes. Note, yard waste will not be collected with the organics at this time. You can find a comprehensive, A-Z list of what is and isn't compostable here.
What is NOT compostable?
There should be very little in your regular black trash cart apart from plastics (plastic wrap, plastic packaging, non recyclable plastic bags) and broken glass, ceramics, rubber, leather, non-recyclable metal (this includes foil lined items like candy bar wrappers and tetra packs), diapers and pet feces. Keep yard waste out as usual.
My kitchen is so tiny. How should I set up my home for composting?
Click here for several different ways to set up your trash system -1200 people can't be wrong -they all throught it would be tricky and then discovered the truth -it's SO EASY!!!
Just as aluminum can recyclers and plastic bottle recylers don't give us free cans of pop or bottles of water, the companies who creat compost are looking to make a living and create a valued resource, not give away their product for free. We will have some free compost to give away at the Linden Hills festival on May 16th, but if you want more than a pail full, you can order compost from OTI - $15 per yard, with a min order of 3 yards I think you get free delivery. You can call Troy on 612-703-5192 for details. SET charges around $12/yd compost, not sure on delivery details. Their website is:
http://www.mulchstoremn.com/mulch.html
Videos
The videos from Hennepin County below explain the three options for recycling organics - organics composting, food-to-people and food-to-animals.
For a full listing A through Z, of what is and isn't compostable, please click here.
TIPS and HINTS:
Line mini kitchen bin or paper bags with used paper towels, napkins, used paper plates or a sheet of newspaper to help absorb liquid or moisture that escapes from wet food scraps.
Wrap food scraps like meat, fish, poultry, cooking grease, sauces, soups, etc., in used paper products like used paper towels before placing in mini kitchen bin.
During warm months, you can freeze food scraps like shell fish or fish until collection day.
Clean out your fridge, freezer or cupboards of expired food products just before your collection day instead of after your collection day.
Keep your green cart outside in a shady, convenient, well ventilated area.
During the winter, move green cart closer to your house to allow for easier access.
Keep air vents located at the bottom of the green cart clear to allow for air circulation.
During warm months, place your green cart curbside each week on your scheduled collection day even if your cart is not full.
Rub the inside of your green cart lid with vinegar and/or sprinkle a small amount of rock salt, baking soda or lime inside your cart to control fruit flies and prevent pests.
All my neighbors have carts but I didn't sign up right away. Is it to late to sign up?
No, you can still sign up, just email Susan Young using the link in red above.
What about yard waste?
At this point, yard waste will NOT be collected. Yes, this IS different than what we'd originally heard, but at this stage, please continue your regular yard waste routine. We hope that yard waste will be allowed at a later date.
Where is our organics material being taken? Will it be burnt? The organics will be taken to a commercial composting facility to be turned into compost. It will NOT be burnt. The trash from your black cart will continue to go to the HERC burner and be burnt, as is done currently with all our garbage. Material in the green cart is diverted from this regular process which is much better for the environment. The organics will be taken here to be turned into compost.
Has this been done before? Hennepin County has sponsored pilot organics collections in Minnetonka, Wayzata and Orono. It has also been city-wide and ongoing in Hutchinson MN. In fact until the 1950s, organics were collected throughout Minneapolis-St Paul. Linden Hills will be the first Minneapolis neighborhood to re-start collecting.
BAGS Do I have to buy the compostable "biobags" instead of regular garbage bags? Where can I buy the biodegradable bags?
No, you don't have to use bio bags. Plastic bags, including regular trash bags are NOT accepted. However, you can wrap your compostables in several sheets of newspaper and then throw them in paper bags if you prefer. Or you can use a milk container or ice cream container and stuff those with food scraps and toss them in a paper bag or directly in the cart if they're sealed well and won't spill. You could also line your cart with a giant paper bag (lawn and yard size) from a hardware store which are about 30c per bag and then seal it up each week before garbage day. See "implementation" below for more ideas.
If you are going to switch to compostable bags, they can be purchased at Clancey's Meat Market, Linden Hills Co-op, Bayers Hardware (all at 43rd and Upton) and Lunds at 50th/France. LHP&L may sell them at a later date and use proceeds to fund neighborhod initiatives.
I have cut back on plastic and paper grocery bags by using canvas bags. But I find my husband grabbing piles of clean paper bags to sort the recycling every week. Now it sounds like I may also need to use some paper bags for composting, because those larger biodegradable bags are pretty expensive. I have ended our newspaper subscriptions because my husband is the only avid newspaper reader and he reads the paper online. So in an effort to save trees, I convinced him to stop the subscriptions. So I don't "naturally" have much paper in my home to wrap composting in. Any ideas? Karen
Good points. I think it's going to take us all some time to figure out the system that works best for us. I'm not sure if you get much junk mail and you could use that -eg Rainbow, Jerry's and Cub flyers, or if you shred your bills and could use shredded paper in the bottom of a cardboard box, or maybe use waxed milk containers or ice cream containers? Otherwise, you could put one of the 33 gallon sizes in your wheeled cart and have a tupperware in the kitchen that you empty in the cart each day; or use the 13 gallon size in your kitchen and see if you can just use one a week rather than several per week - by only putting the food scraps and small paper products like paper towels/tissues/cotton swabs, etc in there. Place fridge and freezer packaging, and pizza boxes etc directly in the cart. I'm sure you're not the only one experiencing this, so I think it will be really helpful for others if you can share what you find works for you. Please keep us posted!
I was planning on using paper bags but then read that the collection company required the bags to be sealed. The bio bags are so expensive that I'd much rather use the paper bags (although I'm not sure how I'm supposed to seal them).Kendra
I wrap my items in newsprint and then throw them in the paper bags. You can "seal" the paper bags by just rolling the top over (you have to leave room) or with masking tape/painters tape (ie paper based tape, not plastic tape).
Can I use the Star Tribune "Oxy Degradable bags"? Erick, Elliott
The bags used by the Star Tribune do not meet the ASTM D6400 standard for compostability and are not BPI certified. Therefore, they are not accepted by our local organics composting sites.
The plastic used in the Star Tribune bags is called oxo-degradable; some call them oxo-biodegradable. Basically, the plastic is conventional polyethylene with an additive that causes the plastic to break into smaller pieces over time. The more additive that is used, the quicker the break down occurs. As you will see in the press release below from the manufacturer of the bags, they do not describe their bag as biodegradable or compostable. In fact, the press release states that these bags can be recycled with other plastic bags "because they are conventional plastic with an additive".
John Jaimez
Hennepin County Dept. of Environmental Services
IMPLEMENTATION How should I prepare my kitchen for the organics collection?
The organics cart from the city can be kept outdoors, wherever you keep your regular black trash cart. You may want to consider switching to a smaller black cart after a few weeks of the pilot if you find yourself having very little non-recyclable waste. (You will save $2 per month). As far as in the kitchen, there are a number of options.
1. Convert your usual kitchen trash can to biodegradable only (using a compostable bag, or paper bag not regular trash bags. If you use paper bags, wrap the wet organics in three sheets of newspaper before tossing in the paper bag so it doesn't fall apart when you lift it!), and place all the plastic/non recyclable metal, etc elsewhere in a smaller receptacle;
2. Consider a pull out "trash drawer" for trash with multiple compartments so you can have the organics in one compartment, recyclable paper in another, non-recyclables in the third to fit your needs. Make sure the organics compartment has a biodegradable liner or paper bag liner as all material that goes in the green cart needs to be bagged in some way (this excludes paper products such as pizza boxes, and other food soiled-cardboard which can be placed in the cart without sticking to the sides.
3. If you don't have a lot of food waste you might consider a counter top compost container, however these won't fit fridge and freezer packaging and will need to be emptied more frequently.
In all cases, just be sure to wrap your food scraps in newspaper or place in a compostable bag, so they don't stick or freeze to the sides of the outdoor cart. See some options below courtesy of the website www.thisoldhouse.com. This type of sectioned drawer can be found at places like the Container Store; Storganize, Home Depot, etc.
For real world examples of how people are implementing their systems, click here. (Please forward us youir ideas by clicking here.) Q. How can I become better informed? A. Talk to your Compost Captain (most blocks have one or more) or attend an upcoming meeting. Sign up with the "join our mailing list" button on the home page and pick "General Interest" as your group. Our next meeting is October 2nd, 6:30pm, 2720 W 43rd St; #300.
Q. Currently Minneapolis tacitly encourages residents to throw out everything by only offering a $2 discount if a resident switches from the large garbage cart to the small one. Meanwhile, the solid waste base fee is about $25 for everyone. A better incentive would be to lower the solid waste base fee to say $15, charge $15 for the large garbage cart and only $5 for the small cart. The green organics bin would be free. This scheme would encourage residents to use the green organics bin and the small cart. Can LHP&L help convince the city to do this? Jon.
A. A great idea -we can certainly forward it to the city for their consideration. I think they'll be more interested in looking at it once they have some data from the pilot. Thanks for being so thoughtful about the program. QUESTIONS ABOUT SPECIFIC ITEMS AND WHETHER THEY'RE COMPOSTABLE
Q. The Star Tribune bags say they're biodegradable. That means we can compost them, right? Elliot.
A. Unfortunately not. The producer is taking advantage of a loophole in legislative language. The bags biodegrade into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic, they never break down completely in an organic way. So we can't use them in the compost pilot.
Q. I read on the Organics Collection page that waxed milk cartons can be composted. Does this include those "Tetra-Paks" that appear to be of the same material and usually hold soy or rice milk, kid's juices, etc? What about the plastic cap or top to some of these, not a problem? Thanks. Jon.
A. Unfortunately, juice boxes, soy milk, Chai tea , etc - all the tetra packs are foil lined so we can't compost them. However, milk cartons, cream, OJ and other non foil lined wax cartons are fine. If you get the mik or orange juice cartons with the plastic caps, ideally remove them if possible.
Q. I have been thinking about the new system and have some questions about what is compostable---Tubes of toothpaste?Make-up?Foam containers from meat?Foam containers from eggs?Bones?Drug containers - plastic not currently recyclable?Synthetic clothes? Fleece products?Aerosol cans? I wonder if you put up a simple list on the website and just add to it as questions come up. With the following categories: Compostable, Noncompostable, Currently non compostable????Heartsher
I think the simple answer is when in doubt keep it out and if it's plastic, never ever put it in. So toothpaste is compostable, but the tube is not. Make up would be, but the plastic container it's in is not. Styrofaom for meat, eggs, coffee, etc is not. Plastic drug containers, synthetics and fleece (made from plastic bottles) are plastic and therefore not compostable -cotton clothing and wool or cotton socks would be. Cans (metal) not compostable. There is a section on the website already (here) that lists specifics on what is (anything that came from a plant except rubber or animal other than leather) and what isn't (metal, plastic, ceramic, rubber, leather) but I will add your questions to the FAQ section as I think it's a big learning experience for all of us. There are lots of things like dryer lint, pet hair, sawdust, etc that are compostable that you wouldn't immediately think of, so I'll add those too.
Q. Hello! Can pet HAIR be composted? Ours shed a lot, so all of that hair now is going into the garbage can. Thanks and I hope the program is a fantastic success so that it can be expanded to the Fulton neighborhood! Nancy
A. Yes, pet hair is accepted, so groom away!
Q. What is box board?Should it be composted or recycled?Joanne
A. Box board is the sort of cardboard that pasta or toothpaste or pancake mix comes in -so it's food packaging that goes in the cupboard/pantry as opposed to the cardboard that goes in the fridge and freezer. Box board should be flattened and then recycled. Fridge and freezer packaging (plus pop boxes, or 6 pack carriers) have a chemical strengthener added so they stay together when wet. The chemical means they can't be recycled but they CAN be composted, so put them in your organics cart. They can go in unbagged if you like, as they won't stick to the sides.
Q. Full vacuum bags are OK. Does that include the HEPA cloth bags? How about loose sweepings from a carpet sweeper?Joanne.
A. Carpet sweepings are fine, plus dustpan and brush gunk and the icky stuff from the bottom of the sink. Are the hepa cloth bags reusable? The contents would be fine. If they are made from cotton they'd be fine, if it's synthetic, don't put them in. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself "is this something a worm or bug would eat? So anything natural that decomposes, yes, anything plastic or synthetic, no.
Q. Can cardboard ice cream containers be composted? Thank you. Carolyn A. Yes! Any waxy cardboard like that, or any cardboard from the fridge or freezer can be composted.
CART SIZE: Q. Is the only type of collection container truly a 65 gallon receptacle?? In my opinion, this needs to be reconsidered. There are only two of us at our home. More than half of the time we do not fill our black trash container more than 50%. Where are we supposed to keep another BIG trash bin? Remember - this is 'Cottage City'. Some of us have small houses, yards and garages-.-Concerned,The Ainsworths.
Hi - the suggestion from the city is to switch (at no cost) to a small black trash cart which saves you $2 per month. Then the green cart would be used for most of your garbage (all but plastic, metal, rubber, ceramic and glass) - you may find that you hardly use the black cart at all. In which case, if you have a kind neighbor, maybe they'd let you use their black cart and you'd just use the green cart. You're welcome to attend our compost captain event on October 2 (2720 W 43rd St, #300; 7pm)to have additional questions and concerns answered. Susan Young from the Dept of Solid waste and Recycling will be in attendance to respond to residents.
Why is the green cart so big? This is a pilot program, so one of the variables being tested is cart size. The carts were ordered under the asumption that we'd be collecting yard waste with kitchen waste, and we still hope to be able to do that in the future. Better to be too big and have the ability to add in yard waste later, than be too small and need to order replacement carts. These carts are expensive!
Q. I am concerned about one size not fitting all. As it's only me, I do faithfully recycle, but it takes three or four recycling days to collect enough plastic, glass and cans to put out a green plastic box worth emptying. I don't subscribe to magazines or newspapers, or end up with much cardboard. I mulch my yard waste, compost it. In short, if the cart for said items is as large as the standard dark green trash can, I am going to find myself being very annoyed smashing it into my garage, knowing it is going to be empty for months.
A. Very valid points! And good for you for being so thoughtful about your waste. I wonder if you have any neighbors in a similar position that you could just share one cart between you. You say you're composting your yard waste, but are you currently composting food waste? With this program, in addition to food waste we can take pizza boxes, packing from fridge and freezer products (the cardboard that has chemicals in it to make it stronger), tissues, napkins, paper plates, etc. You may find that you're using the organics cart more than your regular cart. Are you currently using the large (94 gallon)black wheeled bin or the small 22 gallon? There should be so little in your regular trash you should be able to move to the smaller black cart (and save yourself $2 per month). In other communities the organics recycling is weekly and they have moved from weekly garbage pick up to every two weeks.
NON SINGLE FAMILY DWELLINGS: Q. From reading the articles on the upcoming organic waste collection I see that you talk about single-family dwellings. Is there any way for those of us who rent in duplexes to get involved? Ian.
A. In addition to single family homes, duplex and fourplex apartments are encouraged to participate in the pilot by clicking the link at the top of the page. Larger apartment complexes and businesses can also contribute, contact Felicity for a hand-out on how to get involved.
Q. I live in a five plex and the City of Minneapolis picks up our garbage, so we should be good to go. How do we go about the process of opting in? Also, does everyone in our building have to opt in? I know that there are two units who would be all about it, the other two I don't know very well. Well, thanks for the information, it is appreciated. Franz.
A. The city of Mpls will send a letter out in the last week of July inviting people to opt in. Does each unit wheel their garbage out to the alley or street? Or do you have a dumpster? If you're using carts, any interested units would opt in and be given a second, green cart, and set out as usual. If you're using a dumpster, we'd probably need to get everyone on board so the less interested folks aren't contaminating. If you do carts, use the link above to opt in.
OTHER QUESTIONS:
Q. Hi, I was wondering if anyone ran numbers on how much carbon is released shipping the organic waste collected in HC to the composting facility, and then shipping the compost back to where it is used? It seems like kind of a long distance to ship the materials. Thanks, Jim
Hi Jim, I guess we'd have to ask Hennepin County that question, but I think the benefits of not having the material release methane (23 times WORSE than carbon dioxide) in landfills would outweigh the issue of the carbon footprint. The methane is sequestered when composting.
Q. What about using a garbage disposal for food waste? should it all be composted instead? what if there is too much collected for composting. what happens to the compost, who uses it? Christine.
Hi Christine!
A hierarchy of food waste management policy objectives should include reduction, reuse, and recycling, with disposal to a landfill being the least preferred strategy. The best environmental strategy is to recycle food waste and utilize the energy and nutrient value as a resource. Turning the food waste into compost sequesters the methane so it's not released as per landfills, and uses the nutrient value to fertilize gardens and reduce erosion in road building, etc. Ideally, we'd capture the methane and use it as a replacement for fossil fuel (through a process called anaerobic digestion).
Garbage disposals are not necessarily bad,so if you want to keep using yours you can do so. However, use the organics cart for things that you can't put in the disposal -eg meat, bones, cooking oil, banana peels, watermelon rinds, lettuce, napkins, pizza boxes, fridge and freezer packaging, tissues, etc. And if you were going to ask whether composting is better, I'd say yes, food waste adds undesirable nutrients to wastewater, requiring costly treatment to remove them. In other words: better not to dirty the water, turn it in to valuable dirt, instead.
Even if all the compost didn't sell, as I said, it's better at sequestering methane than landfilling. Currently it's used for community gardens, road building and commercial landscaping.
What are the Benefits of Composting?
A recent waste audit showed that of the material we throw away 34 percent is easily composted organic material and another 33 percent is paper, a substantial portion of which could be recycled or composted.
Taking organic material out of the waste stream has several benefits.
Hennepin County’s incinerator (HERC) is at processing capacity.Garbage continues to increase, so HERC is currently turning away solid waste to landfills both in state and out of state. Organic matter in landfills is a prime cause of emissions of methane into the atmosphere (a 23 times worse greenhouse gas than CO2). If garbage production increases, as anticipated, Hennepin County will need to build a new incinerator. (Millions of dollars and not very effective at collecting greenhouse emissions.)
HERC operates more efficiently with the “wet stuff” removed (an analogy –“Try burning noodles on a campfire”), and releases less methane.
Recycling organics would boost the recycling rate from about 25% to 50- 70%. Increasing the recycling rate should negate the need to build another incinerator and paying to transport and tip at landfills. A side effect of collecting organics is that other rates of recycling increase also.
Organics are removed from the waste stream and composted, providing an earth friendly end-product.
The tipping fee for organics is less than the tipping fee for solid waste ($15 per ton vs about $41.85 per ton). Source Separated Organics (SSO) is also exempt from the county solid waste fee of 14.5% and state solid waste tax of 17%.
Instead of taking up space in a landfill or being burned in the incinerator, they are recycled into compost a valuable resource used in landscaping and road construction projects.
This valuable compost can be used to:
Replenish our soils
Reduce soil erosion
Prevent polluted stormwater runoff from contaminating our wetlands, lakes, and streams
Capture carbon dioxide for climate protection
My family and I live in another neighborhood adjacent Linden Hills. We currently compost all of our food waste but struggle with what to do during the winter. We would like to continue and possibly participate in a larger program. I saw the article in the SW Journal. I know this pilot program is just starting but is there any chance you'll allow people from other neighborhoods to participate (i.e. bring their organic waste to a central location in Linden Hills for a weekly pick-up? Any chance this program is going to be expanded to other neighborhoods? The city of Minneapolis, along with Hennepin County are sponsoring and directing the pilot more or less on the result of Linden Hills Power and Light's effort to advocate for Linden Hills. With that in mind, the pilot is currently restricted to that neighborhood for the curb-side effort. As far as we know, only curb-side (house-to-house) is being investigated and we are strongly encouraging even those in the neighborhood who compost to participate. This will be a good test for future digester feedstock and we will get a really good read of what that would be and a digester would capture the ultra powerful greenhouse gas, methane instead of releasing it. Some of our members have used worm bins in the house during the winter and the rest of the year for food and household organics composting. They have found that worm bin composting is easy, non-odorous, and pretty cool (see there and here and a book). We do not expect that there will be central organics drop-off sites but we will ask. Another thing we will ask for is that some percent of our finished materials be returned to the neighborhood for our gardens in lieu of household composting. DT
Zero Waste
LHP&L challenges events to go "Low or No waste". For further information, click the links below.
