The city of Red Wing is conducting a survey to explore ways to potentially offer a food waste collection service for residents. The survey is part of a feasibility study that the city is working on to see if implementing a service like this is something that the community would want. “This would help Minnesota reach our goal of reducing waste by 75% by 2030. Food waste makes up one-third of household garbage,” the city stated in a news release. “Composting is nature’s way of recycling food waste because it turns food waste into rich, healthy soil.”
In the survey the city asks how likely Red Wing households would be to participate in a food scraps collection service. In addition, the city asks what kind of service each household would prefer. “This is for the feasibility of an organics program here in Red Wing,” Deputy Director of Solid Waste Jeff Schneider said. “Organics is food waste that we all make at home. We want to target that with this program. The idea is to see what the interest is from not only the city, but the region and the commercial generators in the region in doing organics collection and processing.”
Composting services are the next step for communities across the state and other counties and cities are looking at similar options for residents. Food waste makes up a large portion of waste that comes into the solid waste campus, and it creates large amounts of methane gasses. “Organics produce a large amount of methane which is a greenhouse gas. The release of methane from landfills is one of the largest contributors of methane in the United States,” Schneider said. The responses that the city receives from the survey will be one factor in determining whether there is a demand in Red Wing for this service.