Hennepin County recently awarded grants totaling $720,000 to 28 cities to support their organics recycling programs. This funding is a portion of what the county receives from the state’s Select Committee on Recycling and the Environment (SCORE), which the county distributes to support city recycling programs.

Funding policy incentives organics recycling

Recognizing that organics recycling is the greatest opportunity to reduce our trash and that financial incentives are needed to make organics recycling more widely available, the board adopted changes to the Hennepin County Residential Recycling Funding Policy in 2016 that gradually allocates more money to cities for organics recycling programs. The 2017 allocation to organics recycling represents 20 percent of all the SCORE funding the county receives, and by 2020 half of the SCORE funding will be dedicated to supporting organics recycling.

Grants will be used to increase participation

There are about 52,000 households in the county currently participating in organics recycling programs, which is only 11 percent of households in the county. To increase participation, cities are using the funding to increase education, offset the cost of service, and provide supplies such as compostable bags and kitchen pails to participants.

For more information, contact Ben Knudson at ben.knudson@hennepin.us or 612-596-1176.

Hennepin County’s 2018 Solid Waste Management Master Plan outlines strategies the county will pursue to reach the goal of recycling 75 percent of waste by 2030 and sending zero waste to landfills.

Public comment responses

The public comment period to gather feedback on the strategies closed on October 9. Residents expressed strong support to require organics recycling for cities and businesses that generate large amounts of food waste. These requirements received moderate support from cities, businesses, trade associations and waste industry representatives. Residents also expressed strong support for preventing wasted food, recycling and reusing construction waste, seeking environmental justice, and ensuring equitable access to recycling services. See the summary of formal public comments report (PDF) for more details.

Next steps

Staff is reviewing the feedback and making final revisions to the plan. The plan will go to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners for consideration and approval in November.

For more information, contact Dave McNary at david.mcnary@hennepin.us or 612-348-5906.

In the first year of the Zero Waste Challenge, Hennepin County staff worked with 35 households – a total of 133 adults and children – to track the waste they generated and take specific actions to prevent waste and increase recycling. Overall, participating households decreased the amount of waste they produced by 20 percent. On average, households recycled or composted 62 percent of their waste, significantly more than the countywide diversion rate of 45 percent.

The households are helping to spread the word about recycling and waste prevention actions – most of the household said they shared their Zero Waste Challenge story with their family and friends. The county started working with the second cohort of Zero Waste Challenge families in September.

To educate people about actions they can take to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species, the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District and the City of Bloomington created an aquatic invasive species pop-up education cart for use at public events. This project was funded through an aquatic invasive species prevention grant from Hennepin County.

In just four months this summer, the pop-up cart engaged more than 670 people at parks, beaches and city events. Activities included games that illustrate how invasive species spread, education about the importance of not releasing pet fish into the wild, and art activities about native and non-native fish.

In a survey of people who stopped by the cart, 76 percent said they would teach others about aquatic invasive species, 68 percent said they would clean their fishing gear before using it in a new lake, and 66 percent said they would dispose of unwanted fishing bait in the trash. The cart will continue to be used at events, including the Bloomington Home Improvement Fair in February.

Hennepin County has been an active partner in the Master Water Stewards program since it was started by the Freshwater Society in 2013. The program trains volunteers to become community leaders in improving water quality at the grassroots level.

In the next round of training, the county is sponsoring four stewards through a Green Partners environmental education grant from the three watersheds that have never participated in the Master Water Stewards program before – Bassett Creek, Richfield/Bloomington and Shingle Creek watersheds.

These Master Water Stewards will be trained by experts in water quality topics including hydrology, stormwater management, water policy, community engagement, landscape assessment, and installation of clean water practices. They will then be paired with an existing Master Water Steward mentor to install a water protection practice in their community.

Since the program started, 141 Master Water Stewards have volunteered more than 2,500 hours and installed 81 practices, preventing more than 1.2 million gallons of polluted stormwater runoff from entering our lakes, rivers, and streams. To recognize these accomplishments, Governor Dayton designated October 17, 2017, as Master Water Stewards Day.

Items collected at the events included mercury-containing items, household cleaners, fire extinguishers, paint thinners, pool chemicals, fuel additives and many others. Among the most interesting items collected were two pendulums (pictured) from old grandfather clocks. Each pendulum contained 20 pounds of mercury!

Collection events will begin again in May 2018. Hennepin County Drop-Off Facilities accept household hazardous waste items year-round. Learn more about how to dispose of specific items in the Green Disposal Guide.

Winter coat have a rip or tear? Has your electric dancing Santa lost his moves? Need to fix your tent or sleeping bag before putting it away for the season? Want to give the gift of a repaired appliance or electronic item?

The last Fix-It Clinics of the year offer opportunities to get ready for winter and the holidays while saving money, keeping broken items out of the trash and preparing unique gifts with less impact on the earth.

Plan to get do some eco-friendly shopping and support local vendors at Do It Green! Minnesota’s 12th Annual Green Gifts Fair on Saturday, November 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. With a focus on Green for All, the event will feature community building activities that encourage people of all backgrounds to celebrate and learn together.

There will be more than 80 vendors with environmentally friendly gift options, green living demos in multiple languages, a creative expressions lab, free music, and a family passport with prizes! Be sure to stop by Hennepin County Environment and Energy’s table where we will demo green gift wrapping techniques.

Millions of pumpkins and decorative gourds end up in the trash after Halloween when they could be put to better use by being composted or sent to a farm to feed animals. So don’t BOOhoo about your post-Halloween pumpkin – recycle it instead!

The following options are available:

Thanksgiving prep

Once you’ve composted your pumpkins and put away your costumes, you may be turning your focus to planning your Thanksgiving meal.

A holiday traditionally focused on a big meal presents many opportunities to prevent wasted food and take steps to host a green gathering.

To make sure you’re prepared, start taking these steps now: