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Carolyn Collopy, Master Recycler/Composter Coordinator
Email
612-596-0993.
MRC Program
Payback opportunities
Hours reporting form
MRC Facebook group
MRC files
Thank you for your continued efforts to help Hennepin County reduce waste and recycle more! We’re glad you’re part of our outreach and education team!
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Americans generate 25 billion pounds of textile waste, including clothing, shoes, curtains and bedding, each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and that amount is growing. Between 1999 and 2009, textile waste generation increased 40 percent.
In Overdressed: the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth Cline discusses how the clothing industry is contributing to this trend. Cline’s book documents how the fashion industry has evolved into an industry of disposable goods, creating clothing so cheap it can only be worn a handful of times before falling apart. Subsequently, Americans are now discarding the equivalent of 68 pounds of textiles per person a year. This is not surprising when you consider that Americans purchase an average of 64 garments per person a year. Unfortunately, the U.S. EPA reports that although some clothing is donated for reuse, 80 percent ends up in the landfill, representing more than 5 percent of our municipal solid waste by weight.
What can MRCs do?
- Donate and buy used clothes. Search for local reuse options in the Choose to Reuse Directory. In addition to local thrift stores, there are a growing number of online options. Check out Poshmark, Copious, Threadflip and eBay.
- Host a clothing swap – it can be counted toward your payback hours.
- Skip the latest fashion trends and stick to timeless, durable clothes.
- Repair your clothing – attend a Fix-It Clinic to learn how or take items to a sewing repair shop.
- Check out the Council for Textile Recycling for more information.
 Hennepin County launched its first Fix-It Clinic in September 2012 to help reduce waste and promote reuse by teaching residents how to disassemble, troubleshoot and fix their broken household goods and clothing.
 MRC Rebecca Harnik (fall 2011) developed the program with Hennepin County staff member Nancy Lo. The program relies on volunteer fixers to diagnose problems and show residents how to fix their household goods.
MRC Jay Daun (spring 2011) has volunteered as a fixer, and MRCs Barb Stevens (fall 2011), Sarah Kline (spring 2012), Sara Nelson-Pallmeyer (fall 2012), Greta Rittenhouse (fall 2011) and Jill Dalton (spring 2011) have helped as recorders and greeters.
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Since the program launched, 266 items have either been fixed or the owner was told what part was needed and how to complete the fix, diverting almost 1,900 pounds of materials from becoming waste!
Volunteering at an upcoming Fix-It Clinic is a great way to earn payback hours. Repair skills are not necessary. Email Nancy Lo or call 612-348-9195 for more information.
Upcoming Fix-It Clinics:
- Saturday, March 9, 2013, noon - 4 p.m. at the TC Maker Hack Factory, Minneapolis
- Saturday, April 13, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the South Minneapolis Housing Fair, inside the Minneapolis Sports Center at the YWCA, Minneapolis
- Saturday, May 11, noon - 4 p.m. at the Plymouth Library
- Saturday, June 15, noon - 4 p.m. at the Bloomington Center for the Arts, Bloomington
 St. Louis Park residents now have the opportunity to recycle more plastics! On November 12, Eureka Recycling began collecting additional plastics including yogurt, pudding and fruit cups, produce and deli containers, and clear packaging from toys and electronics.
Check out the 2012-2013 Recycling Guide that was recently mailed to residents.
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Congratulations to the following MRCs on completing their payback hours:
- Carrie Sandgren (fall 2011) helped her congregation of more than 15,000 members at Mt. Olivet Church in Minneapolis start organics recycling.
- Trica Leland (fall 2012) coordinated organics recycling at the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association's Northern Green Expo.
- Jenna Johnshoy (spring 2012) coordinated a green-themed week at her office.
MRCs logged 1,013 volunteer hours in 2012 – thank you! Don't forget to report your hours using the MRC Volunteer Hours Reporting Form.
 Kathy Klink (spring 2011) has found the Master Recycler/Composter program to be helpful in her work as a faculty member in the University of Minnesota’s geography department. “I’ve been able to pull what I’ve learned into class in a concrete way, and students find it really interesting. They learn abstract stuff, but this is more concrete. What’s the impact of putting stuff at the curb, how does that impact change, resources, pollution.”
As a board member for Eureka Recycling, Kathy knew quite a bit about residential recycling, but the MRC program allowed her to expand her knowledge about other kinds of waste reduction and recycling, such as construction and demolition, food rescue, business-to-business recycling and harder-to-recycle items like mattresses. The classes, “helped me think a lot more broadly about all of the things we do, as people and a society, how our society is set up, things being made a lot of the time to not be recyclable, how to make them differently to make them recyclable, like electronics.”
Kathy, along with her son and daughter, are the chief volunteers for the organics recycling program at the Mill City Farmers Market. When customers ask her questions about where their organics go and what happens to them, “I can answer those questions because now I know from the MRC program. People get really interested in why doesn’t everybody do it. We discuss barriers, policy and political barriers, for people to reduce their waste even further.” Furthermore, “I really enjoyed getting to know folks who work in Hennepin County and other people in the class and ... what they’re doing. It was a lot of fun.”
Looking for payback activities? Check the MRC Facebook group or www.hennepin.us/MRCpayback for opportunities.
Not part of the Facebook group? Join Facebook if you haven't already, then request to Join Group from the group page.
Kare 11 Great Green Challenge
 On February 5, Kare 11 began airing an 11-week series called the Great Green Challenge. Each week, they are tackling a different aspect of going green, such as recycling, reducing waste and buying green products. In the second segment, Hennepin County recycling specialist Andre Xiong joined meteorologist and recycling champion Laura Betker to help her figure out what materials in Kare11's trash were actually recyclable. The segments will air every Tuesday at 5 p.m. and will be posted to Kare 11's Great Green Challenge web page.
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 Kare 11 is encouraging other businesses to join them on their journey to go green. RethinkRecycling.com, the public face of the Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board, is the official media sponsor of the Great Green Challenge. At RethinkRecycling.com, businesses can take a pledge to recycle more, access resources to help them start or improve their recycling program, and request free assistance. Hennepin County has resources and assistance available for businesses at www.hennepin.us/businessrecycling.
Please spread the word to any businesses or organizations you know that may be interested in taking the pledge and starting or improving their recycling programs!
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Fix-It Clinics
The Fix-It Clinics have gotten a lot of media attention recently, including nationally! Check out the stories on CNN, in the Star Tribune and on MPR.
State looking to reduce amount of waste going to landfills
Starting in February, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will begin enforcing a law that only allows waste haulers to deliver waste to landfills once facilities that process waste to generate energy are operating at capacity. The Hennepin Energy Recovery Facility (HERC) is one of four waste processing facilities in the metro area. Read more in the Star Tribune.
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