I agree with you that making recycling as convenient as possible will increase the percentage of people participating, but having to haul cardboard isn’t too bad: you’re bound to have to go to a grocery store soon enough, anyway.

I’m surprised to hear that you have to sort in Minneapolis. I have relatives in Richfield, and it’s single-sort there — I would have thought Mpls and the inner-suburbs would be on the same system.

Well I hope you Northfielders figure this out before we move down there. :)Here in the big, bad city of Mpls they pick up paper and cardboard (in addition to the other standard fare). No additional trucks, just the big one with all the compartments that rumbles down our ally biweekly and is driven by a very nice woman by the name of Heather. We would quickly be avalanched by paper at our house if it wasn’t picked up from our house. No wait, it would probably make it out to our cars and then our cars would fill full before we would get around to stopping at whereever it is you all haul your stuff to!!

I hate to sound non-generous to the youth of Rice County but, in my book curb-side pick up is crucial to keeping this stuff out of the landfills. Keep in mind many won’t make the trip and those that drive away from full bins may not make a second trip - all which leads to very easily recyclable items ending up in the landfills.

Well, to give Northfield (or is it Rice County?) its props, going single stream would put you ahead of Mpls as we currently have to sort. So now I am confused, are they picking up the paper curbside or not…there seems to be two different experiences here on this blog?

Thanks for letting a non-local (for now) chime in!

Solid Waste Department head Michael Cook outlined the changes that will be occurring in the county’s recycling system.  Collection will change from source separated to single stream.  Everyone will get a new recycling container (at this point a 65 gallon wheel-able container) into which will go everything permitted.  The recycling fee will rise from the current $18 per year to $26 to pay for the costs of the recycling containers over a five-year period.  The county will continue to contract with existing haulers so that recycling collection will occur from the same company that hauls the residents’ trash.  However, the recycling pick up will be cut back to every other week.  Part of the reason for this change is that trucks are no longer being built for curbside separation.

A Faribault ordinance that limits the size of trash bins to 40 gallons, however, stands in the way of implementation. The Faribault City Council met in committee Tuesday night to recommend the law allow recycling bins as large as 65 gallons but maintained the limit on trash containers. A final ordinance change is subject to a public hearing and Council vote.

Our county commisioners are considering a proposal to allow recyclables to be put at the curb, lumped together. They would then be picked up by a garbage truck, dumped on the floor of the recycling center, and shipped out in bulk, unprocessed, to a non-county facility. Once there, the recyclables would be sorted and the baled product sold. The revenue of the marketable baled product would no longer stay in the county.

Nordgren details the pros and cons and opposes the change. I can’t find an update on the issue in recent minutes of the Rice County Commissioner meetings, and I don’t remember hearing anything about a public input process on the change. Anyone have details?

Good news: the area around the bins at Cub have been cleaned up. Was that St. Dominic’s youth? Alas, the bins at Econo are still a mess. Project Friendship is the designated youth group for those, according to the sign on the bins.

As far as picking up stuff around the bins, I’ve often wondered why people drive off and leave a mess there, any way. Is it just lazyness? Maybe it was just my upbringing, but my folks taught me to always clean up after myself. I have picked up things around these bins many times myself. Keeping the town clean is a group effort, in my opinion. We shouldn’t have the attitude that someone else will do it if we don’t.

I think it would be a strategic move if the youth organizations developed a calendar of supervision with a team assigned to each day or so to make sure the areas are clean and kept up. I also do not think it is wise to have the kids climbing into the dumpsters to disperse the stuff. There are enough openings that this can be done by hand by the adults or taller kids. If the areas around the dump sites are a mess… it reflects on the organization being sponsored for the month.

17,000 people in Northfield. (Give or take)

6 Bins, 3 at Econo, 3 at Cub… and WM does not work weekends.

It sounds like the bins are always going to be full on Sunday.

It sounds like rather than having LESS recycling on weekends, we need to have MORE bins, or MORE pickups.

When the Vanpool drives by Econo on Monday mornings, WM is out very early picking up the bins. I think everyone just holds their recyclables until the weekend, then drops them off. It is a simple problem of peak demand, and not enough supply of empty bins.

WM should consider an additional pickup on Saturday afternoon? Residents should also try to drop off their materials during the week, and not let them accumulate until the weekend.

Consumers should also try to go one better, and purchase items that have less and less packaging. Consumers should use recyclable containers, and purchase items in bulk whenever possible.

I am all for doing this curbside. It would be very nice.

Kiffi, I’m not saying that youth groups never do anything. I’m saying that it’s not apparent what’s done, that often times it’s not done well, and that it’s false PR to say that a group recycled X tons. If the youth group sponsorship portion of the recycling program stopped today, it’s pretty clear to me that close to the same # of tons would be recycled each month.

Griff, I had the perception that you knew this, as I thought I remembered you in the audience, and taking pictures the last time the PR person from WM was there. I may have a false perception. I know KIffi was there… maybe I wiffed it…

A lot of these groups do not have a web presence or a PR person, but work very hard to raise funds, and take the WM program very seriously.

To answer Andy’s post, I took that sentence off of the Freecycle website. I did not know about Deron Beal. I stand corrected, and thank you. I think Freecycle is pretty handy, and have used it frequently, especially when closing out the gardens last year. Much of the materials I had left over were freecycled.

I would really like to see the City handle its public relations better, but that is a completely different topic.

I stand corrected.