Starting next week, more Minneapolis residents will see new green organics recycling bins on their curbs.
The second phase of the city's curbside organics program begins March 28, when residents in some north Minneapolis neighborhoods will receive their carts. The city will continue to distribute carts to people who have signed up in other areas of the city through mid June. (The city has a map that provides a week-by-week look at where the bins are going.)
People signed up for the service will get a "welcome kit" -- which includes some kitchen-sized compostable bags -- a week before their bin shows up.
So far, approximately 36,150 households have signed up for the program, which allows residents to toss in food scraps, eggshells, meat, fish, bones, soiled pizza boxes, paper plates, coffee grounds, tissues, cotton balls and plant trimmings, among other items. That amounts to about 34 percent of eligible customers. About 12,000 of those households, in areas covered by the first phase of the program, have been using the service since last summer.
The city is offering two training sessions for people who want to learn more about organics recycling. Both will be held on April 9, with one from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, and a second from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Folwell Park.
Curbside pickup is currently offered for single-family homes. Residents who sign up now will get their bins this summer, after those who signed up before the February deadline. The service does not come with an added fee; the city increased annual waste collection fees by $48 last year for all eligible households.
Photo: Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune
