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Co-Collection Organic Compost Program
Organics Recycling Program - Partnered Counties
For more information regarding the Organics Recycling Program, please reach out to the county in which you reside using the links below:
Co-Collection Organic Compost Program
It is estimated from various waste sorts that household trash is composed of between 25 – 40% of organic materials. Because its organic material, it is able to be composted rather than disposed of by waste combustion or landfilling. As such, it has become a target material to be diverted from the waste stream.
The programs and initiatives that target this organic material refer to it as Source Separated Organic Materials – or SSOM.
In 2024, Polk County received a $1.5M Grant from the MPCA to implement a Co-collected SSOM Aerated Static Pile (ASP) Composting Grant. The Co-collected part of the Grant references how the SSOM will be collected and delivered for composting. The ASP composting part of the Grant references the method used for composting the material.
Co-collection describes how the resident will separate the SSOM from the trash, and get that material from their home to the County for composting. Under this system, residents will collect their food scraps in a specially designed compostable bag. When full, the resident will tie the compostable bag and place it in the same trash can, cart, or dumpster that they already utilize for their bagged trash.
Source-Separated Organic Material (SSOM) Composting
It is estimated from various waste sorts that household trash is composed of between 25 – 40% of organic materials. Because it's organic material, it is able to be composted rather than disposed of by waste combustion or landfilling. As such, it has become a target material to be diverted from the waste stream.
The programs and initiatives that target this organic material refer to it as Source Separated Organic Materials – or SSOM. The Source Separated part of the SSOM term is referencing that the generator of this material (i.e. the resident) is deliberately separating this material for a special management method instead of mixing it into the household trash. The organic material referenced is primarily composed of food scraps, but extends to other organic materials that are commonly mixed into the trash, such as household plants, wet/soiled paper towels, coffee filters/grounds, or even pet wastes.
SSOM programs generally do not include typical yard wastes that can be composted, such as leaves, grass clippings, twigs/sticks, and garden wastes. These types of materials should continue to be managed through normal yard waste collection programs.
Existing Regional SSOM Programs
Polk entered the SSOM Composting process in response to an illegal dumping of large volumes of organic materials in eastern Polk County in 2010. The lack of a legal organic composting option in western Minnesota prompted a request from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for Polk to enter the composting industry. The MPCA issued a variance to the Polk Landfill to open an SSOM Compost facility. The variance was required because the MPCA was in the process of drafting rules that would have design/construction specifications not yet determined. Polk received the first loads of SSOM from large generators (grocery stores) in 2011.
Polk and the partner counties of Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, and Norman have developed some SSOM-related programs over the years. These programs have been limited in nature and resulted in varying degrees of success.
Polk applied for MN Bond funding in the 2014 and 2015 Legislative Sessions. Part of that funding request was to construct an SSOM Compost facility that met the new Rules for SSOM, and the equipment to process those compostable materials. Funding for that part of the project was received from the 2017 Legislature. The construction of that facility occurred in 2018.
Polk applied for an MPCA Environmental Assistance (EA) Grant in 2018 to collect SSOM from residents and businesses in the 6-County Group. The main component of the Grant was to construct and deploy specialized organics roll-off container collection systems. These systems were to be distributed to select Transfer Stations, schools, and other large generators in Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, and Polk Counties. The MPCA awarded the Grant to Polk, and Polk began a soft launch of the program in the spring of 2019 with the intention of full rollout in 2020. As issues were encountered with the initial rollout, modifications were made to those systems deployment and all other systems before being deployed. In Polk, one of the systems was deployed at the Polk County Transfer Station in Crookston in the fall of 2019. The Pandemic occurred not long afterward and stalled any momentum in building the program. To date, there is a small, but dedicated, number of participants who continue to utilize that program.
New Regional SSOM Initiatives
In the 7-County metro area (Twin Cities & suburbs) the MN Legislature has imposed SSOM diversion requirements. These requirements and timelines are ambitious and have sparked numerous new SSOM-focused programs. Though the remainder of the State does not have these requirements, funding opportunities have become available to encourage similar programs in rural MN. The rural Counties widely believe it is a matter of WHEN, not IF, such requirements will be placed on them. The Waste Packaging Law (2024) and Construction and Demolition Debris Landfill Rules (C&D Rules) initiative underway (approval expected in 2026) have only reinforced this presumption.
As such, Polk has applied for several of these MPCA Grants. Other Counties in our region have also applied for these grants in coordination with each other. These efforts from 2024 to present have yielded positive results. Polk and Hubbard Counties have both received SSOM-related Grants. Polk’s Grant targets residential and small commercial SSOM, and Hubbard’s targets large commercial SSOM.
In 2024, Polk County received a $1.5M Grant from the MPCA to implement a Co-collected SSOM Aerated Static Pile (ASP) Composting Grant. The Co-collected part of the Grant references how the SSOM will be collected and delivered for composting. The ASP composting part of the Grant references the method used for composting the material.
Co-collection describes how the resident will separate the SSOM from the trash and get that material from their home to the County for composting. Under this system, residents will collect their food scraps in a specially designed compostable bag. When full, the resident will tie the compostable bag and place it in the same trash can, cart, or dumpster that they already utilize for their bagged trash. This eliminates the need for another specialized cart and collection service – expenses incurred in many of the Twin Cities Metro communities doing SSOM programs. Because the SSOM is in its own, specialized compostable bag, not in the trash bag with other household trash, it is separate and can be removed by the County. Polk County will utilize artificial intelligence robots to identify and remove these SSOM bags from the rest of the trash at the Polk County Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Fosston, MN. Those bags are specially designed to withstand the collection process and remain intact for removal at the MRF. The robots are trained to identify these specialized bags and remove them from the rest of the trash. The separated bags of SSOM will be aggregated and hauled to the Polk Compost Facility at the Landfill Complex. This co-collected system is very similar to the program currently in place in St. Paul, MN. (Link: https://foodscrapspickup.com/ )
The ASP describes the composting method utilized. Polk County’s compost facility currently utilizes a low-tech but very common composting process referred to as a Static Windrow composting process. Long rows of compostable materials are formed in which moisture and heat are managed to promote the composting process. When composting activity slows and heat drops, the windrow is mixed to reintroduce air and moisture to the material to re-activate the composting process. A specialized compost turner is utilized to mix these materials until the composting process is completed. Transitioning to an Aerated Static Pile process refers to making large, compact piles of compostable material instead of long, narrow rows. This results in the more efficient use of the compost pad. To promote and control the air necessary to promote composting activity, fans are used to blow air through perforated pipes in the base of the pile. This speeds the compost process, reducing the retention time needed to achieve critical composting benchmarks and complete the compost process.