A cry that business is wasting away

Your trash might be someone's treasure; to Pete Barthold's hogs, it's a feast. These days, though, there is more competition at the trough.

Barthold collects food waste from Twin Cities-area restaurants, groceries and institutions and feeds it to his nearly 2,000 hogs on two farms near St. Francis.

But he and other organics recyclers say a Hennepin County program undercuts them by favoring compost operations. They claim they're losing clients they've served for years.

The county's organics program, launched in 2005, was meant to bump the county's recycling levels from mid-40 percent levels to a state-required 50 percent, said Carl Michaud, the county's environmental services director. The idea was to structure a program inexpensive and convenient enough to encourage more organics recycling.

Under the program, garbage haulers pick up organic waste and haul it to a transfer station, where they pay the same $15 per-ton tip fee they'd pay for any other recyclable waste. The county pays the costs of hauling and disposing of the waste, usually $25 to $35 a ton. The waste then is turned into compost by two companies, Specialized Environmental Technologies in Rosemount and R.W. Farms in Chanhassen. In 2008, the county spent $41,097 in contracts with the two composters, Specialized Environmental Technologies in Rosemount, and R.W. Farms in Chanhassen.

The county program costs restaurants and other generators of organic waste less than half than Barthold's average $35-per-ton fee for hauling and processing the waste -- and those customers don't have to sort out food-soiled paper and biodegradable plastics.

"Those subsidies will slowly dissolve me," he said. He fears that other counties will copy the program.

They say all they want is a level playing field. And they argue that the county should pursue the residential organics market, rather than going after the base they've served for years. Without the subsidy, haulers' prices would be comparable to, or more, than Barthold's.

Jim Wollschlager is director of company operations for Randy's Environmental Services, a hauler that collects organics for compost. He said the company has been responding to clients' requests to consolidate organics and trash services, and that the company would prefer to focus on residential recycling, now available in only a few suburban cities.

Still, Barthold and his competitors have lost a handful of clients; they've held on to several others only by deeply discounting the service.

"There's no doubt in my mind that [the county is] trying to do the right thing and recycle more product, but it ends up taking away from industries that are currently recycling," said Endres spokesman Matt Rohl.

Michaud said each company needs to determine its own waste-disposal strategy. "We try to encourage every business and individual to be good environmental stewards and try to do what they can to facilitate that," he said. "It's up to the generator [of the waste] to figure out what makes the most sense for them."

"It always amazes me when we find people arguing about garbage, because we've got plenty of it," said MPCA organics recycling specialist Ginny Black. "We just have to do a better job of pulling it out of the waste stream."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409