Dakota County Organics Drop Off Program!

I thought this would be cool to share and perhaps your city/county also does this!

Did you know that roughly 30% of our trash is organic material? By separating organic material from our trash, we create compost–a valuable, local landscaping product. Dakota County, MN has multiple drop off locations for FREE!

Locations are open daily from 5 a.m.-10 p.m., unless noted below.
~ Burnsville – Civic Center Park, 260​ Civic Center Parkway​​
~ ​Eagan – Holland Lake Trailhead, Lebanon Hills Regional Park, 1100 Cliff Road
~ Farmington Central Maintenance Facility, 19650 Municipal Drive​​​
~ Hastings Transportation Shop, 900 County Road 47​
~ Lakeville Water Treatment Facility, 18400 Ipava Ave.
~ Mendota Heights – Mendakot​a Park, 2171 Dodd Road​​​
~ Rosemount Public Works Facility, 14455 Brazil Ave.
~ The Mulch Store, 16454 Blaine Ave. E (Empire Township), Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Saturday hours vary seasonally. Check The Mulch ​S​tore website or call 651-423-4401.
~ West St. Paul – Dakota Lodge, Thompson County Park, 1200 Stassen Road
~ Opens Aug. 1 – Apple Valley Central Maintenance Facility​, 6442 140th St. W.
~ Opens Aug. 1 – Inver Grove Heights – Inver Glen Library, 8098 Blaine Ave. ​

To learn more and sign up, please visit: http://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Environment/Residential/Organics/Pages/organics-drop-off.aspx

You’ll receive a welcome kit with a free container label, compostable bags and details on how to drop off your organics. ​

You can use any container to collect organics in your house:
Reuse a container like an ice cream bucket, coffee container or yogurt tub
Purchase a kitchen compost bucket at local stores or online

Line your container with a paper bag or certified compostable bag, just make sure it has the BPI logo — they’re available for free at the drop sites. Take your bagged organics to a drop-off site and place your bags​ in the dumpster. Take a free BPI-certified compostable bag and start collecting again.

What’s ​Accepted?
~ Food scraps:
Bakery and dry goods
Coffee grounds
Dairy products
Eggs and eggshells
Meat, fish and bones!
Fruits and vegetables
~ Indoor plant trimmings
~ Non-recyclable paper
Paper towels and napkins
Toilet paper and paper towel rolls
Paper egg cartons (no need to bag)
Tissues
Dirty paper bags

Sharon wrote:

fish and bones!

That could be a bit smelly

I would love this in my area. We don’t really have a big enough yard for a garden or need to compost, but it bugs me when I throw food waste away when cutting veggies or meat, etc. My town has a compost dump but only for lawn trimmings, leaves and branches.

Would have to agree though, even if it’s a dumpster. peeeyew! I could see some avid bowfisherman really making it a tough day for some sanitation workers.

Obviously they haul away the dumpsters regularly, I wonder if there’s a way to complete the circle and let the public have access to the compost after it’s all broken down?

The Mulch Store on Sharon’s list sells compost and a 50-50 black dirt/compost mix.
The contents of the bins at the Farmington site seem to be about 1/2 pizza boxes.

In the North Metro the City of Coon Rapids has a similar program and will take stuff from anyone in Anoka County. Not the volume of locations as Dakota County but a similar program. I think Anoka County may have one or two other collection locations.

https://www.coonrapidsmn.gov/398/Organics-Recycling

We separated our trash just like that when I was a kid. Everything organic went into the incinerator in the basement. It was our job to burn it. I never even met anyone else with an incinerator. They seem so dangerous but ours always worked.

I have to wonder if this is just another feel good thing like plastic recycling. I found out recently that less than 5% of the plastic that is put into recycling bins actually end up being recycled. That’s really sad being lots of people take the time to sort it and being how long plastic takes to breakdown in landfills. I think I read it was like 400 years.

fishthumper wrote:

I have to wonder if this is just another feel good thing like plastic recycling. I found out recently that less than 5% of the plastic that is put into recycling bins actually end up being recycled. That’s really sad being lots of people take the time to sort it and being how long plastic takes to breakdown in landfills. I think I read it was like 400 years.

I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. There is very little demand for recycled plastic and it doesn’t decompose in a human lifetime.
The organics are ground up and decompose into dirt in a matter of months.

Sounds like a good idea. For those looking to compost at home, don’t put meat, dairy or fish in it. You don’t want that kind of bacteria in your garden even if you can tolerate the stench while it breaks down. On the flipside, don’t put citrus into the compost pile either. It can kill worms and good bacteria.

I’m w thumper, don’t have that much interest to Google the answers tho. Hard to imagine 30% of garbage is compostable first, and hard to imagine all the trucks, guys and facilities needed to process this stuff is worth a bucket of dirt to the gardeners of the city.

Pat K wrote:

I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. There is very little demand for recycled plastic and it doesn’t decompose in a human lifetime.
The organics are ground up and decompose into dirt in a matter of months.

The difference is that the organic materials would decompose and turn to dirt rather quickly rather it was thru a drop-off site or if dumped in a landfill. I’m not saying it is a bad idea. Was just saying I would be far more happy if more of the plastics I take the time to sort would end up being recycled. Here in Sartell they have a compost site. The end product ends up in a huge pile that those who use the compost site are free to take as much as they want of.

picklerick wrote:

For those looking to compost at home, don’t put meat, dairy or fish in it. You don’t want that kind of bacteria in your garden even if you can tolerate the stench while it breaks down.

I always thought fish guts were like the ultimate fertilizer?

I just wish every city or county had yard waste compost. It’s a racket in the SW Metro to get rid of yard waste.

Move out of suburbia, and your problems of composting are solved.

After supper I take a short walk to the bank and launch compostable stuff into the woods. There’s a trail that runs through beneath the house and whenever I’ve been on it there’s not a remnant of anything. It all breaks down quickly.

For meat, bones, fish guts, they go into the hay field well out of range of scent and we get a free show feeding eagles, coyotes, hawks, fox, raccoons, with some occasional target practice out to a few hundred yards if the right critter is near.

To the OP, it is unfortunate how many people waste AND pay to get rid of food and compostable things.

buckybadger wrote:

To the OP, it is unfortunate how many people waste AND pay to get rid of food and compostable things.

This is a free program.

I guess I would never be one to save all my scraps and haul them across town or any where else. I’ll keep feeding the critters in the woods and when we need composte I’ll go to the nursery. As for plastics and recycling, I’ve worked at far to many garbage plants to see where 90 percent all ends up any ways.

BigWerm wrote:

I always thought fish guts were like the ultimate fertilizer?

My buddy buries all the carp he hauls out of the river under his beans and the ones with carp underneath grow 2-3X bigger than those that do not. I called BS on this then watched it play out a few summers ago, it’s certainly true.

As tar as fish or meat being good fertilizer, they are, but unless you do it exactly right, it’s a gamble. I do use Alaska brand fish emulsion in my garden. This summed it up pretty well:

Discarded fish parts and guts can be a great natural fertilizer for your garden plants, but if they’re not properly composted first, they can also be a source of harmful bacteria that can make you sick. Fish waste contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, which can be beneficial for plants, but it can also contain harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. If you don’t compost fish waste properly, these bacteria can contaminate your soil and make your plants unsafe to eat. To compost fish waste safely, mix it with other compostable materials like leaves and grass clippings. Keep the compost pile moist, but not too wet, and turn it regularly to aerate it. The compost should be ready to use after about six months.

Sharon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
To the OP, it is unfortunate how many people waste AND pay to get rid of food and compostable things.

This is a free program.

No such thing as free…

I dropped off my first bag of organics recycling this morning and it’s super easy! Quick in and out and I grabbed another bag for refills. My bag was mostly full of trimmings from garden veggies, egg shells, and banana peels. I kept the bag in the freezer and just added to it as needed so no smell, no mess, no fuss!

Sharon wrote:

I dropped off my first bag of organics recycling this morning and it’s super easy! Quick in and out and I grabbed another bag for refills. My bag was mostly full of trimmings from garden veggies, egg shells, and banana peels. I kept the bag in the freezer and just added to it as needed so no smell, no mess, no fuss!

Sharon, you have a garden, correct…….just bury that in your garden…..i do!!!!! i actually bury banana peelings where i put my tomatoes!! none of that kind of stuff goes in the garbage. and you’d be surprised how fast it breaks down. sometimes i think critters eat it????

My garden is full of growing veggies, so I’d rather just keep it simple and take advantage of this easy program!

Sharon wrote:

My garden is full of growing veggies, so I’d rather just keep it simple and take advantage of this easy program!

Another option is a home composter about the size and shape of a rain barrel, only with a few vent holes in it, only about half the size. You just add your goodies to it and reseal. These have been offered locally here a couple years ago and I grabbed one. It sits right at the end of the garden and each spring I pull the pins that hold it in place and spread the contents on the garden before the first tilling.

I have one of those weird hand tillers with the “T’ handle and four curved prongs at the bottom that you sort of screw into the soil. It works great to mix this composters contents up and helps get air mixed into it which is about 50% the composts active ingredient. Menards has a compost nutrient that can be added just prior to mixing the stuff up….. tons of essential bacterial in the product and hastens things along. At this time of year when the garden is cranking out goodies that composter get filled up pretty good. Handier than heck and takes up very little room.