City Council to Consider Single-Sort Recycling at June 5 Meeting

At its June 5 meeting, the Shakopee City Council will consider a proposal from Dick’s Sanitation to convert city residents who are covered under the city’s organized garbage collection contract to go to a single-sort recycling system, in exchange for a five-year extension of the contract with the city. Public comment will be accepted during the 7 p.m. meeting at .

With single-sort recycling, residents would receive a larger, wheeled cart with a lid where they can place all of their recyclable items (paper, glass, plastics, etc.) without sorting them. The carts would be picked up curbside every other week, rather than the current weekly schedule, which would reduce the amount of traffic and wear on the streets.

According to City Administrator Mark McNeill, single-sort recycling is becoming more common as municipalities look for ways to encourage residents to recycle. “In Shakopee, we often receive requests to go to single-sort recycling with the wheeled carts,” said McNeill. “The City Council will look at the pros and cons of the proposed offer to see if it is in line with the city’s needs.”

The City Council will have to consider whether it wants to extend the city’s contract with Dick’s Sanitation for another five years in order to have the advantages of single-sort recycling now. The alternative would be to wait until the current contract expires on June 30, 2014, and then seek competitive quotes from multiple haulers interested in serving the City. It would further explore a single-sort system at that time. 

If the City Council agrees to pursue this proposal, the city would enter into negotiations for a new contract that would expire June 30, 2019.

Currently, residents are asked to separate their recycling into two categories and place items in bags in the open container to leave at the curb weekly.

The first category of recycled items includes: 

Newsprint 

Office Paper & Junk Mail

Catalogs & Phone Books
(No more than 2 per week, please.)

Wet Strength Cardboard 
(Such as pop, cereal or beer packages. No pizza boxes, please, since they have food on them.)

Corrugated Cardboard 
(Such as mail order or shipping boxes. Flatten and tie into 2' x 2' bundles no more than 6" thick.)

Category two includes:

Glass food and beverage containers 
(No mirrors, ceramic, window glass or light bulbs.)

Plastic bottles and food containers
(Such as cottage cheese or yogurt containers, pop bottles, milk jugs, etc. No Tupperware or buckets and no plastic bags.)

They also ask that people rinse all items and remove caps and rings. People can also ask for a second free container if their recycling doesn't fit into the one provided.

Check back to Shakopee Patch for updates to this developing story.