Education

Compost

Food scraps – like fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells and coffee grounds – make up 20% of trash in Ramsey and Washington counties.

To help reduce this waste, the counties provide two options for residents to participate in food scrap recycling:

When you recycle food scraps, they are sent to a compost facility to be processed. Composting is the natural process of breaking down organic materials – like food scraps and yard waste – into nutrient-rich material called compost that can be used to improve our soil.

Recovering food scraps from trash helps us reach Minnesota’s recycling goals and provides health, environmental and economic benefits to the community.

Here’s how the process of food scraps recycling works*:

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Participate
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Hauler collects trash
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R&E Center for separation
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Compost facility
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Finished compost
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*This process depicts participating in the Food Scraps Pickup Program. Food scraps collected at drop-off sites are delivered directly to compost facilities.

How can compost be used?

Finished compost material can be used at home in gardens, lawn care, and potted plants, or in industries such as agriculture, construction, landscaping, and environmental management. 

 

Construction

Landscaping

Agriculture

 

Benefits of food scrap recycling + compost include:

Recycling food scraps provides the best opportunity to reduce the amount of trash we generate. By weight, food scraps are the largest portion of our trash. Recycling food scraps keeps this material out of landfills and incinerators.

When food scraps and other organic materials break down in landfills, they create methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.  Because food scraps are wet, they require more energy to burn at waste-to-energy facilities than other types of waste.

Compost added to soil promotes healthier plant growth and reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers. It also improves water retention, which conserves water and helps prevent erosion, which can pollute our water.

Minnesota’s composting industry supports about 700 jobs and produces $148 million in gross economic activity per year. The composting industry supports four to eight times more jobs on a per ton basis than landfilling operations.

Resources and further reading: