I got a tip via a friend of my wife’s that Waste Management’s web site for Northfield shows that their multi-sort recycling at the curb (click right image to enlarge) now includes all kinds of paper products, not just newspapers. ‘Twas news to me.
So this means you no longer have to bring cardboard and miscellaneous scrap paper (“junk mail paper, egg cartons, cereal/cracker/shoe boxes, coupons, wrapping paper, greeting cards”) to the big bins at Econofoods or Cub Foods. Just put it in a paper bag and put it in the bin. Larger cardboard can be flattened and placed under the bin.
And their Northfield drop-off location handles eCycling (electronic waste), too.
WM-Northfield
1510 South Highway 3
Northfield, MN 55057
Monday – Friday 8 am – 5 pm
800-841-5887
Update, 5 pm: Evidently there is NOT curbside recycling for cardboard. The WM website is in error. See the comment thread.
I wonder how much the recycling center throws away these days, if anything. I remember being shocked by how many items actually made it to the trash rather than being recycled (mid 90’s).
Problem is: how do you fit everything in the bin?
I think it is awesome that we can do more curbside recycling as well as less sorting. I hope this does not end the ‘Green Team’ program that Waste Management does at Econo Foods and Cub. This is a great program that helps raise funds for alot of youth groups in Northfield.
Wow. This is a big deal! I can probably free up ten square feet of my garage by breaking down some boxes!
I didn’t know we had a new protocol for curbside; thanks for posting this. It looks as if some things should be bagged (glass and scrap paper) but other items can just go loose into the bins. It also appears that all paper should go in one bin and all other stuff in another, if you’re putting items loose into the bins. Totally news to me! I did see that a new yellow recycling bin appeared a few months ago, but I didn’t know there was a new procedure. I see from the little illustration on the Waste Management site that paper egg cartons can be recycled; I’d never thought of that, oddly enough. (They can also be reused if you bring them to the co-op).
So does everyone get two recycling bins now? I’m confused. Waste Management, take me away…
I just called waste management and it’s news to them. Did anyone actually speak to Northfield’s Waste Management?
The city would not change its contract with Waste Management without some sort of public announcement, so I find all of this hearsay.
The bins at Econo and Cub provide different groups a method of financial support, and should continue to be patronized as much as possible.
My guess is, this is a corporate template on their web, and does not reflect accurate information. Also, I am fairly confident that you still need to take electronic recycling to the County site on a certain day, when the moon is in the third phase, and the supervisor is wearing a certain color shirt, and pay some variable fee.
I called in December about dropping off a monitor, and was told where I needed to go. I am quite sure it is not the WM office on Hwy 3.
I would love to see this service curbside however…
Patty, I didn’t call before I blogged this but I just called now and talked to a woman named Jen in Waste Management’s regional office in Blaine. Her database showed that Northfield is NOT listed for scrap paper and cardboard recycling at the curb but when I walked her through the web site to where it says it DOES, she said that that must mean it DOES and that we should go ahead. I urged her to double check with a supervisor and call me back.
So in the meantime, let’s try it. I won’t have a chance till next Wed.
Ah, I found the “news” entirely credible because so much paper recycling goes into the youth organization bins at the supermarkets, bypassing any financial benefit to the city or county. I may not understand the economics of this very well, but I know that some years ago one county official privately expressed concern about the impact to the county recycling revenues when people started bypassing the paper collection bins at the south Hwy 3 facility and using the more convenient youth donation bins instead. My thought at the time was, if they want all that cardboard and mixed paper, they need to pick it up or make it more convenient for people to drop it off!
If anything has changed, I don’t think that they’ve told the drivers on my WM route. My neighbor’s scrap paper/cardboard he had placed in his recycling bin was left at the curb this week, along with a copy of the same old ‘what goes where’ flier I currently have posted on my fridge.
I called the City of Northfield Maintenance Facility at 1710 Riverview Drive because they’re listed on the city’s web site for yard waste where it references Waste Management. “We honestly don’t know” was their anwser.
I called the city’s Finance Dept because they’re listed on the city’s web site for residential curbside garbage and recycling collection where it references Waste Management. I left a voicemail message at 4:45 pm.
Well,… it would be a great service to have! I’m going to dig a little deaper too. But my initial call was placed through the website you posted. Which is Southern Minnesota WM. So I’ll look for your news from the city on Monday. Thanks!
Mary at the Finance Dept called me back and gave me the direct numbers for Stephanie at the Northfield office and Randy in the regional office. Stay tuned!
I talked to Stephanie at the Nfld WM office. She said the curbside sorting is done at the Rice County Recycling Center/Landfill and, unlike in the Twin Cities, they do NOT have the ability to sort for cardboard. She wasn’t sure about scrap paper, however.
I’ve left a voicemail for Randy, the regional WM contact.
I’ve edited the blog post at the top.
Randy Bongard, Waste Management’s regional manager for Northfield, called me back and confirmed that A) cardboard is not yet picked up at the curb; and B) scrap paper IS. He apologized for the web site error and will have it fixed Monday.
WM’s Randy Bongard told me that a decision on Single Stream vs. Dual Stream recycling (evidently we currently have 4 streams: paper, glass, plastic, aluminum) will likely be made at next Tuesday’s Rice County Board of Commissioners meeting. I checked the agenda and shore ’nuff, at 8:50 am, Michael Cook, Director of Solid Waste for Rice County, is addressing these issues:
Waste Management has a web page on Single Stream recycling:
Dual stream (described here on the earth911.org site) means that:
Hmm. I wonder if Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) is going to be considered? Seems like a good idea to me:
Hey! Our Northfield City Council endorsed ‘Single Sort Recycling’ in Nov. See the Council minutes for 11/19/07:
Does anyone have details about WM’s Youth Recycling Green Team program? What do the youth groups actually do re: the recycling of cardboard & mixed paper?
Excellent. Thanks for all the info.
The non-profit group reiceives a dollar amount per pound collected in one of the two designated grocery store big bins. Each non-profit is given a month and then it’s weighed. They often share with one other non-profit. A sign is placed on the bin each month of the group receiving the donation. -This is the way it worked when I was involved with the Girl Scouts a couple years ago and I just assume it’s still the same.
Patty, if I understand you correctly, the youth groups are just beneficiaries…. the kids don’t actually do anything?
Corrrect.
I beg to differ on #23, and #24…
It depends on the group that sponsors the box. I know for a fact that there are some groups that are more aggressive, and sponsor recycling drives. Some of the church youth groups actually have run very effective campaigns.
They also monitor the boxes and contact WM for pickup, check on the site and clean up the messes left by others.
To say that the youth groups don’t do anything, and just get a check is unfair and is a great disservice to them and the program as a whole.
Come on Griff, you can do better…
We built a deck last summer (OK, son built the deck) and I have a couple of Rubbermaid tubs of wood scraps. How do I get rid of them?
Anne,
I’m pretty sure you can bring lumber scraps to the recycling center itself. I would call them to make sure, though: 507-332-6833.
Usually when you build a deck, there is a lot of pressure treated wood in the foundation, unless you have invested in Cedar…
If it is pressure treated wood, you need to be aware that it is FULL of chemicals, and should not even be dealt with bare hands, much less burned, buried, or thrown in a landfill.
If the wood scraps are not pressure treated, you could probably get rid of them by listing them on Northfield Freecycle. This group is part of The Freecycle Network, a completely volunteer, nonprofit organization and a movement of people interested in keeping good stuff useful, wanted, and out of landfills. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/northfield_freecycle/)
Anne, if it is NOT pressure treated wood, I would be interested, as I have an outside firepit, and woodscraps make great starter.
Have a great day.
-J
I see that some people have asked questions about e-waste. The drop-off location *is* the Northfield location back behind the Cenex gas station, beside the big co-op grain storage units on HWY 3. There are several large cardboard boxes that hold e-waste to be recycled back there. Just go inside to the main desk to pay and ask them where to put the stuff. I do this quite a bit as a student worker in St. Olaf’s computer department.
John, I don’t like you lecturing me (#25) to “do better.” Just argue and leave it at that.
I think my question about whether the youth groups are just beneficiaries is legit. The general public brings the paper to the big recycling bins and WM hauls it away. It’s not obvious to me what the kids do.
There’s nothing specific about what ‘educating the residents’ actually means. Did the kids go door to door? Did they give a powerpoint presentation at church? Did they create a blog or web site or photo album?
There’s nothing specific about what ‘monitoring the boxes’ actually means. In the years I’ve been hauling stuff to these sites, I’ve never seen a youth cleaning up. I’ve never them helping people unload their vehicles. MANY times I’ve seen big messes. MANY times I’ve driven away frustrated that the boxes were completely stuffed and I couldn’t drop off my paper.
I don’t object to the youth groups receiving money, but if they don’t do anything, it seems more than a little disengenous for groups/media coverage to be trumpeting that “XYZ youth group recycled X tons of paper.” The credit should go to the citizens who recycle the stuff and to WM for orchestrating the whole thing and donating the money.
John Thomas says that The Freecycle Network is entirely a volunteer organisation. Strictly this is not correct since Deron Beal at least receives a salary.
Anyone who has attended city council meetings, or watched them on NTV, has witnessed the often, usually, heavy involvement by the youth groups that sign up as sponsors.
The PR person from WM comes to the council to award the check, congratulate the sponsoring youth group, and usually gives quite an explanation of their efforts, before giving them their check. The sponsoring group usually has quite a bit of maintenance to do at the site, cleaning up around the containers, often having to crawl inside to move cardboard back from the doors, so that more can be added, and not just left on the ground outside.
From hearing these presentations over the last 2/3 years, it would seem that most, if not all, of these youth groups take the job very seriously and are well deserving of the monetary award. Some groups have gone as far as to have educational programs in their schools, or created flyers for adults. Many have spoken quite ardently about their surprise at how messy adults can be when leaving their cardboard at the site.
If I’m not mistaken, NF won the nationwide award for the highest collection of a city of its size; WM should be congratulated for initiating the program, and the youth sponsors for their facilitation of that program.
Thank you Kiffi… and my apologies to Griff.
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.
I stopped by the paper recycling bins in the Cub Foods parking lot this morning. Here are 3 photos of the mess surrounding the bins. I talked to a local vet who was there emptying his vehicle and he, too, expressed frustration at having to drive away many times because the bins were full.
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.
Lets think about this for a second…
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.
I like the idea of the youth organizations benefiting from the recycling. But I do have to comment that I take my paper to the bins during the week and yes they are usually not as full, but the mess is still there. I have never been to the containers and seen the area clean. On several occasions I have gathered up flying paper and that hasn’t made it into the bin.
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.
It just seems like curbside would be so much more efficient, and cleaner.
John T.- I’m not sure curb side pick up for cardboard would be cost effective for WM or the city. I can just imagine a truck or two the size of those bins, w/ one or two men each, driving all around Northfield to collect what is dropped off at the two sites now. Seems it would be pretty costly and time consuming. Also, I’m not sure the city or WM could use this as a fund raiser for these service and youth groups if this extra cost was incured.
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.
Here are 3 photos I took this afternoon of the recycling bins at Econofoods.
Griff- I guess that’s just evidence that not everyone thinks about the consequences of their actions. Also, look at all the thimgs left in plastic garbage bags. Why try to recycle materials in bag that is not recycleable with its contents? The sign is pretty clear to me- “CARDBOARD AND MIXED PAPER ONLY.” Duh!
Just an FYI that Dundas also has Waste Management bins for cardboard/paper recycling located at Firehouse Liquor, (south end of the parking lot). Profit from WM bins are designated to Dundas area youth organizations.
Thanks, Michelle. I stopped by yesterday. It’s pretty clean.
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.
Waste Management took my grocery bag full of scrap paper yesterday. And they issued us two new green recycling bins.
You all heard it here first: Waste Management likes him, I guess; so bring your scrap paper to Griff’s place for recycling.
There’s a letter to the editor in today’s paper titled Rice County may change recycling, by Kevin Nordgren.
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?
Looks like Single Stream recycling is on the way for all of Rice County, according to this article in the Nfld News, recycled from the Faribault Daily News: County will move to sorting recyclables itself. Anyone know if Northfield’s ordinance will need to be changed like Faribault’s?
LWV observer Marcia Walters has this in her report on the last Rice Cty Commissioners’ meeting (Mar 25):
Lurking Northfield wannabe here again…
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!
Janine,
I can say from personal experience that Rice County does (and, as I understand it, will continue to) pick up office paper and newspapers/magazines, but not cardboard.
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.
[…] reported here on Locally Grown back in this April discussion thread, single sort recycling (AKA single-stream or co-mingled recycling) has arrived for Northfield. The […]