Minnesota to Evaluate Co-Collection Organics Program

Organix Solutions, an organics recovery and municipal waste consultancy based in Minnesota, announced today that the company received a letter of approval from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) acknowledging their co-collection program complies with state regulations when paired with a suitable sorting system. The program utilizes Organix Solution's patent pending compostable bags for co-collection of food waste in residential and commercial applications.

The MPCA worked in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Revenue (DOR) to evaluate the Blue Bag Organics compostable bags and determined the bags were sufficiently durable for organics to be captured from curbside collection along with regular trash on the same truck and withstand the process for sorting the compostable bags from municipal solid waste (MSW) at the material recovery facility.

MPCA and DOR assessed that the materials collected using the Blue Bags qualified as source separated organics (SSO) and met Minnesota Statute 297H.06 that allows source separated recyclables and source separated compostable waste to be exempt from the solid waste management tax.

"We are very pleased about the MPCA's assessment of our co-collection program," said Jim Wollschlager, Organix Solutions' CEO. "This validates over 10 years of work on our program that is now in 28 communities. Not only are we reducing the amount of waste reaching a landfill we're also reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating the need for additional trucks."