 Success Stories:
Downtown White Bear Lake Shared
Organics/Recycling/Trash Enclosure
The city of White Bear Lake was awarded a Public Entity Innovation Grant from
Ramsey County to design and construct a shared recycling enclosure on city property
that currently serves 10 businesses surrounding the Washington and 4th
Street parking lot in the Downtown area. The enclosure accommodates recycling
and trash collection and now allows all 10 businesses to begin food waste
recycling programs. The total project
cost was $99,034.68, which includes administrative staff time, design fees, and
construction costs. The project has proven to be very successful. In the first
six months, from December 2015 through May 2016, 29,640 pounds of food waste,
13,368 pounds of recyclables, and 19,870 pounds of trash were collected, with a
total waste diversion (food waste plus recycling) of 68.4%.
Multi-Jurisdictional Recycling Support
The city of White Bear Lake has been awarded a Public
Entity Innovation Grant from Ramsey County to provide multi-jurisdictional
communication, outreach, and multi-unit housing recycling support for the
cities of Little Canada, North Saint Paul, Vadnais Heights, White Bear Lake, and
White Bear Township. Among other things, the grant was used to fund a joint
recycling position. The primary focus of the grant is to work with the municipalities
to update their websites and assist with general recycling communication
efforts, and to provide education and outreach to all apartment buildings
within each community. To date, the joint staff person has conducted 99 site
visits, interviewed 51 apartment managers, and distributed approximately 110
posters, 770 door hangers, 1100 magnets, and 1700 reusable bags.
News You Can Use:
Disposing of Kitchen Chemicals Safely
Take a look in your kitchen cabinets. Find any products you no longer use? If they say CAUTION, WARNING, or DANGER on
the label, they don’t belong in the trash. Bring them to a Ramsey County
Household Hazardous Waste collection site. For locations and hours, go to RamseyRecycles.com
and click on “Household Hazardous Waste” or call 651-633-EASY (3279), which is
answered 24/7.
Environmental Protection – One Building at a Time
What does the demolition of the old Midway Stadium have in common with a house
tear-down in Highland Park? Both require (among other things) a
pre-demolition inspection by Ramsey County staff. Since 2008, county staff have
inspected over 1,400 houses and buildings to be wrecked, ensuring asbestos
is removed and properly disposed; that thousands of appliances, TVs and other
electronics have been recycled; and that hazardous items such as mercury, used
oil, aerosols, pesticides and others are removed and properly disposed. Since
the program started, over 2.7 million pounds of hazardous waste and problem
materials have been identified, removed from the structures and properly
managed. This means that the demolition debris that is recycled or landfilled is
much safer because of these inspections. Visit our website to read more about this one-of-a-kind program.
Check Out BizRecycling’s Blog
Did you know that BizRecycling has a weekly blog on East Metro recycling? Twice
a month, East Metro businesses are promoted as a “Success of the Week” on their
recycling efforts. The blog also offers insightful tips and facts on East Metro
recycling. If keeping up with East Metro recycling is important to you, check out
the blog here! BizRecycling is a program of the
Ramsey/Washington Recycling and Energy Board.
Did
You Know?
Keeping Fair Food
Safe
It’s summer, which means it is time for outdoor fairs and festivals in suburban
communities in the county, like Marketfest, Canadian Days, Taste of Rosefest and many
others. Most fairs have food vendors who
serve everything from French fries to kettle corn to pulled pork
sandwiches. The County’s Public Health Department inspects food stands at these events to ensure the vendors have
proper handwashing, adequate refrigeration and are thoroughly cooking the foods
they serve. We conduct 100-150 of these inspections each
summer, helping to keep your fair food safe!
Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. |
