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Tour of the Recycling & Energy Center; Trash Talking Allowed!
Written by Leslie Frick, SSMN’s Valley Network Leader
I admit it; I’m a trash geek. I love a bit of good trash talk. Apparently, a few Sustainable Stillwater MN friends agree! Sixteen of us, including two youths, gathered on October 29 to learn about where our trash and food scraps go.
The R & E Center is located in Newport, MN, and all trash from Ramsey and Washington Counties is delivered here. At the R & E Center, all trash is carried through a series of shredders, screens, and magnets. These specialized tools are used to recover recyclable metals and food scraps, while the remaining trash is processed as a fuel source to generate electricity.
It’s the only facility of its kind in Minnesota!
One of the highlights of the tour was learning about the robots that pluck out the specially designed food scrap bags. These bags are tougher than your average composting bag and are made to be tossed in with our trash and survive the garbage truck ride to the Center. All the trash is dumped on the tipping floor and carried up a conveyor belt past sensors that tell the robotic arms to pluck out the special bags and send them to the compost facility.
We didn’t get to see it in person, but there’s also an industrial-sized robotic fire extinguisher gun that puts out fires. On average, there are two fires a day caused by improperly discarded lithium batteries, vape pens, and e-cigarette devices. These cutting-edge additions to the R & E Center speak volumes about the research into best practices and the careful planning that go into enhancing sustainability in Washington and Ramsey Counties.
There are many advantages to this type of program:
It’s attractive and convenient for consumers who don’t do backyard composting. Food scraps and bones are bagged and tossed into the regular trash.
Green bags are available free to residents, including apartment and condo dwellers.
Additional carts or trucks aren’t needed to pick up food scraps. (Garbage trucks average two to three miles per gallon.)
Since approximately 30% of all trash is made up of organic materials, reclaiming this material and turning it back into soil instead of burning it is good for the environment and results in cost savings.
The amount of trash we saw on the tipping floor was staggering, and we learned that over 400,000 tons of trash are delivered to this facility each year. That’s enough to fill Allianz Soccer Field 19 times! We also learned that each of us discards about five pounds of trash daily, which really hit home with our group.
Our enthusiastic tour guide, Shannon, challenged us to consider the following before throwing something in the trash: First, reduce what you use, then reuse, repair, recycle, and finally, compost.
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