A large-scale organic waste recycling pilot program in Otter Tail County is three weeks old and officials say it is going well. County Public Information and Education Officer Cedar Walters said participating facilities quickly got into the swing of the program.
“They see that it’s actually not that hard, and it’s not that messy,” Walters said. “And it really ends up making sense within their operation. These are places where food waste is making up a lot of their waste stream, they can significantly reduce what is going into their dumpster or compactor, just by doing this one thing.”
Walters said the program has already diverted 14,000 pounds of material away from landfills. A local waste management company collects the food scraps and organic materials from schools, hospitals and other large waste generators.