Otter Tail County Solid Waste has installed a new Food Waste Drop-Off site in Parkers Prairie in the parking lot of City Hall. Food Waste Drop-Off sites are a great option for those who don’t want to compost on their own but still want to get their food out of the garbage. In the United States, an estimated 40% of the food produced is wasted, wasting all the resources that went into producing it, such as water, fuel, soil nutrients, fertilizer, pesticides, and human labor. Food waste in a landfill doesn’t decompose and return to the soil like it does in a compost pile due to landfilled material being packed into a sealed environment – effectively locked away from nature.
Food Waste Drop-Off sites get food waste out of the trash using the commercial Organics Recycling Program that started in 2022. The weekly Organics Recycling route picks up from schools – including schools, healthcare facilities, restaurants, and four public Food Waste Drop-Off sites. Parkers Prairie schools participate in the Organics Recycling Program and have kept approximately 20,000 pounds of food waste out of the trash since starting the program in March of 2022. Altogether the program collects more than 5,000 pounds of food waste each week and delivers it to the Glacial Ridge Compost Facility in Douglas County.
Food Waste Drop-Off Site Locations:
- Otter Tail County Recycling Center in Fergus Falls
- Battle Lake Recycling Drop Off site on Hwy 83
- Perham Recycling Drop Off Site – 201 6th Ave NE
- Parkers Prairie City Hall Parking Lot
Participants must sign up to receive a starter kit and important information about the program to ensure only compostable items are placed in the collection carts. Plastic bags cannot be put in the collection carts, and any food waste put in the carts in plastic bags must be pulled out and thrown away or if it is missed it ends up at the compost facility as contamination.