Minot hopes to offer a curbside recycling program to residents in the next couple of years. The transfer facility plan was approved by the Minot City Council and is going for bid. The Minot landfill is filling up and about 60% of residents surveyed wanted a recycling option. “Will go a long way in improving the situation if we recycle that’ll reduce significantly our need for landfill space,” said Stephan Podrygula, Minot alderman.
A recycling sorting facility was estimated to cost upwards of $10 million to build. Staff said they believe the city would struggle to recycle enough to pay back operating costs. “We’re not in the center of a large population center so we’d have to get materials from quite a ways around outside of Minot. While it’s technically feasible, it’s not easy,” said Jason Sorenson, Minot Public Works.
They opted instead for a transfer facility that is planned to be built down the road from the Trinity Health Medical Campus. It’s a spot to collect recyclables from across the city to ship out, and costs less than $3 million to build.