Dakota County aims to increase recycling

Dakota County has been campaigning full-bore — billboards, classes, door hangers, television ads — to get residents to recycle more.

One year and more than $681,500 later, the amount of properly disposed hazardous materials and electronics has increased by 9 percent, or 350,000 pounds, among other things. But reducing the number of batteries and light bulbs in landfills is just one piece of a larger challenge.

Last year, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law requiring metropolitan counties to increase the amount of recycled material — from 50 percent of all waste generated to 75 percent by 2030.

Dakota County is trying to figure out how to meet that requirement. It is already better off than many areas of Minnesota.

Residents and businesses in the county recycled 53.8 percent of their waste in 2013, above the metro average of 47.7 percent, according to the most recent data from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Preliminary numbers from 2014 show that the percentage of total recycled material in Dakota County did not change much over the past year, Environmental Specialist Jenny Kedward said.

The county is zeroing in on organic material, like food waste, as it attempts to reach the 75 percent recycling rate. The new legislation says counties should aim for 60 percent of recycled matter to be solid items, including paper, glass and plastic, and 15 percent to be compostable organics.

"I think it is doable, as long as we have some good programs on the ground for recycling and organics. We can't do it without organics. It's going to have to happen," she said. "We're doing really great already with recycling, but even doing really great we're only in the 50 percent area."

The county offers "master composter/recycler" classes. It also recycled food scraps for the first time at the county fair last summer and is adding organics containers at some of the county's 27 buildings and properties, Kedward said.

While the Dakota County community is ahead of the metro area on recycling, at government buildings and parks, the county is struggling to catch up. Employees and visitors recycled just 40 percent of waste at county properties in 2014, according to county data.

"You're more likely to have single-stream at your home, and have a bigger cart, too; and always have it in the back of your mind, 'I'm in the kitchen, I'm going to recycle,' " Kedward said. "At work, it's just been kind of a hodgepodge of different messaging and labels and bins."

The county is moving to single-sort at many of its parks and buildings and trying to educate more employees about recycling, she said.

Much of the increase last year was due to the country trying to get the word out about the Recycling Zone in Eagan, which takes electronics and hazardous materials.

The emphasis on the Recycling Zone came after a county survey showed 43 percent of people did not know it existed, even though it has been around for more than 20 years, said Laura Villa, a senior environmental specialist.

There was a 20 percent increase in visitors there from 2013 to 2014. "I think the campaign was a big success," Villa said. "We'll see if there's some carryover into this year."