Curbside Organics Recycling

Curbside organics recycling will begin for residents in Bloomington with the City's garbage and recycling service in March 2022. This will ensure that the City is in compliance with Hennepin County Ordinance 13 which requires cities with more than 10,000 residents make organics recycling available to residents in 2022. It will also benefit the environment by keeping these beneficial materials out of incinerators and landfills.

The collection of organic material at the curb is important to the City’s sustainability and overall solid waste reduction goals. These include the City Council’s Strategic Priorities related to reducing the citywide carbon footprint; reducing the volume of solid waste delivered to landfills and incinerators; improving water quality, and improving customer service for trash and recycling.

At the March 1st, 2021 City Council Meeting, the Council decided all households in the solid waste program will be billed for organics, much like our regular recycling service. Residents will be able to opt out of participating by not receiving a cart, but will not be able to opt out of paying for the program.

The curbside organics program will begin in March 2022.

What is curbside organics recycling?

It is the curbside collection of organic material in a separate cart. Organics are any item that came from a plant or animal that will turn into compost. This includes:

• All food scraps, including meat and dairy products
• Pizza boxes
• Napkins and paper towels
• Certified compostable food service items like plates, cups and takeout containers
• Other compostable household items like coffee grounds, paper tea bags and paper egg cartons

After organics are collected from the curb, they are taken to a commercial composting facility where they are recycled and turned into compost, a nutrient rich soil amendment.

Waste sort studies, like the one Hennepin County conducted in 2016, continue to show that organics materials are the largest proportion of our trash, making up about 25% of the trash stream.

This project page is available for residents to learn more about organics recycling, ask questions, and share information with the City about your awareness of, support for, concerns about, or other ideas you may have related to the City's rollout of curbside organics.