Hennepin County, Minn., plans to move half of the county’s recycling dollars toward organic waste by 2020 via a new funding policy.

Waste360 Staff, Staff

November 28, 2016

1 Min Read
Hennepin County, Minn., Increases Curbside Organics Recycling Efforts

In an effort to boost curbside organics recycling, Hennepin County, Minn., plans to move half of the county’s recycling dollars toward organic waste by 2020 via a new funding policy. These funds can be used to provide discounts to residents, purchase compostable bags or to help pay for city contracts.

This year, $3.2 million of the county’s $3.5 million in recycling funds went toward cities’ recycling programs and $300,000 went toward organics recycling. If the proposed funding policy change gets approved by the County Board, the organics recycling funds will increase to $720,000.

Star Tribune has the details:

Hennepin County wants cities to start curbside organics recycling, and it’s planning to pay more to those that do next year.

It’s part of a shift in recycling across the country to focus more on organics, or food waste. Hennepin County’s own move toward organics is part of a gradual increase in funding that the county envisions, aiming for half of recycling dollars to go toward it by 2020.

“It sets the tone,” said Ben Knudson, a Hennepin County recycling specialist. “It will get the attention of cities.”

Read the full story here.

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