Batteries make our lives easier, but if they’re not handled correctly, they can be dangerous. Fire Prevention Week is October 3-9, and Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington counties are partnering to educate residents about how and why batteries can be a fire risk.

Food scraps make up about 20% of trash collected in Ramsey and Washington (Minnesota) counties by weight. Starting in late 2022, the counties will roll out residential curbside collection to single-family homes, apartments and condos using “food scrap bags” that will be co-collected with trash and then sorted from the trash after collection.

Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy broke ground this spring on a more than $40 million expansion at its Newport facility to make room for high-tech robotics that will sift out the biodegradable bags residents will use to dispose of food scraps in their trash bins.

“Landfills full, alternatives few” (Star Tribune, Jan. 26) on the potential expansion of landfills in the metro area underscores the need to reduce our reliance on trash cans. A serious effort to reduce the amount of trash we are producing will require bold action from state leadership.

Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy (R&E) and Orange EV today announced the deployment of an Orange EV T-Series pure electric terminal truck to the Recycling and Energy Center (R&E Center) in Newport, Minnesota. Replacing a diesel truck with all-electric aligns with R&E goals to enhance public health and the environment and to create vibrant, healthy communities without waste.

Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy (R&E) — a public joint powers board between Ramsey and Washington Counties in Minnesota — has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for End-Use Markets for Byproducts from the Recycling & Energy Center (R&E Center) through gasification, anaerobic digestion, chemical recycling and other processing solutions.

Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy (R&E), Maplewood, Minnesota, has announced a request for proposals for gasification, anaerobic digestion, chemical recycling and other processing solutions to manage waste byproducts from its 500,000-ton-per-year waste processing facility.

A garbage facility in Newport is about to take a $43 million dive into organic recycling.

The addition to the Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center would enable it to pull food scraps out of the waste stream for the first time.

According to a proposal, the project would increase recycling, decrease the amount of garbage being burned, and reduce material sent to landfills.

“The purpose here is to get more value out of waste,” said Zack Hansen, Ramsey County’s Environmental Health director.

Food scraps and other organic material make up about a quarter of the waste produced by the 800,000 residents of Ramsey and Washington counties — but there’s no full-scale curbside system to collect it for composting.

A day into the start of the legislative session, Gov. Tim Walz is touring the state to advocate for his $2 billion bonding bill.

Wednesday, he spent time at the recycling and energy center in Newport. Located in Ramsey County, it brings in 13% of the state’s waste and the governor says it needs work. Nearly $8 million worth of it.

The Governor has included $8 million in his proposed bonding bill to help this center expand, Kim Johnson reports.

Nov. 15 is America Recycles Day. You may have read negative news about recycling in the national headlines recently. We’re writing with some facts on the state of recycling here in Minnesota.

China’s decision to stop accepting America’s dirty recycling has rocked the waste industry and forced some communities across the country to landfill material tossed in the big blue bins. So is recycling still worth it here in Minnesota?