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Otter Tail County Solid Waste is urging county residents to not place yard waste in recycling containers or garbage receptacles. This practice is not only illegal, it creates more work and expense for the county.
Otter Tail County Solid Waste is urging county residents to not place yard waste in recycling containers or garbage receptacles. This practice is not only illegal, it creates more work and expense for the county.
It’s getting close to that time of year again. Time to start raking leaves and bagging.
Even at this early point, the Otter Tail County Solid Waste Department recycling staff have already encountered substantial amounts of yard waste such as acorns, leaves and grass clippings contaminating recyclable materials that come to the recycling center for processing.
Public Information and Education Officer, Cedar Walters, said they are seeing more and more of the waste in regular garbage and recycling bins.
“Mostly at the recycling center we’re seeing it because we are sifting through the material that comes in. To sort it and clean it up so it can get sent off to be recycled. We see it (the yard waste) more up close here, versus if it’s in the garbage, we may not really see it. We know it happens. It also does happen year round, but we are definitely seeing it mixed in with recycling on a daily basis,” said Walters.
Walters admitted that yard waste is actually banned from landfill disposal in the state. She said people also may mistakenly believe that yard waste can be recycled.
“That’s not where it can be recycled. For us it’s kind of silly because you can drop that stuff off for free and get composted. But people are going to all this effort to bag it up and put it in the wrong place, where it’s just garbage. We do see it more often in the fall,” said Walters.
“Every day our staff reports finding either in bags or falling across the conveyor belts while they’re trying to sort recycling. The frequency definitely increases during the months of October and November when everybody is trying to clean that stuff up,” said Walters.
Walters also has some great tips for composting and being creative when it comes to common yard waste:
If you want to get rid of leaves, line a truck bed or trailer with a large tarp and either fold over or add another tarp on top to contain leaves for transport. This is often easier than filling a bunch of bags. You can rake leaves onto a tarp laid out on the ground, then pick it up by holding the corners.
If you can’t use a tarp, cut down on plastic bag waste by using reusable yard waste totes, or other leaf bag alternatives. Although paper bags will work, choosing something that can be reused multiple times is the best.
If you are able, mulch in your leaves a few times during the fall with a mower. This works for a light covering of leaves and is a free boost of nutrients for your lawn.
Leave some leaves. Insects and wildlife require some leaf litter on the ground to overwinter. Leaving a light layer of leaves is beneficial for wildlife and saves you a little extra raking! Just make sure to keep leaves off the street and curb, as excess nutrients from the leaves can negatively impact water quality.
Use leaves to mulch around the base of trees and shrubs, or in gardens. This can help regulate soil temperature, hold soil moisture, and provide nutrients for trees or perennials, much like a leaf litter layer in a forest.
Compost your own leaves. This saves you bagging and transportation! You can make a simple bin out of pallets or a circle of chicken wire, or buy a bin. Layer in leaves (browns) and food scraps (greens) to get a good balance of carbon (browns) and nitrogen (greens) for the perfect compost pile. A good ratio is about 2:1 carbon to nitrogen. Green nitrogen-rich food scraps or grass clippings can get too wet, so adding double the dry brown carbon-rich leaves will help aerate your compost pile and balance out the nitrogen. Good composter's know to save their leaves for use in a compost pile year round!
“A landfill is built like a time-capsule – organic matter that goes into the landfill does not decompose and return to the soil, and actually causes environmental harm due to methane emissions from organic waste slowly decomposing in a sealed environment. The whole point of a landfill is to make sure nothing goes in or out – so anything harmful doesn’t enter the environment in the future,” emphasized Walters.
The Transfer Stations that accept yard waste are:
Pelican Rapids Transfer Station 1101 9th St NW (1 mile west on Highway 108)
Northeast Transfer Station & Demolition Landfill 50365 Landfill Rd. (2 miles west of New York Mills on Highway 10)
Henning Transfer Station & Demolition Landfill 51122 Rocky Ridge Rd. (South of Henning on Co. Highway 65)
Battle Lake Transfer Station 36005 MN Highway 210 (1.5 miles west of Battle Lake)
Yard waste can also be brought to the City of Fergus Falls Landfill site at no charge.
For locations visit ottertailcountymn.us/department/waste-disposal.
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