As more cities offer curbside composting, residents in one suburb don’t want to take the trash

Residents in nearly 30 east metro cities can now compost their food waste by leaving it on the curb — only the start for Ramsey and Washington counties’ ambitious program aimed at reaching every home in the coming years.

Other metro counties, under pressure to meet a state mandate to boost organics recycling, are evaluating how to do the same and allow residents to throw their food scraps in a bag and set it on the curb with the rest of the trash.

But all that food waste needs to go somewhere — to be sorted and processed before it’s sent out to make compost.

And in the north metro city of Blaine, that’s an issue causing major uproar among residents living next door to Walters Recycling and Refuse. The company earlier this year won a 10-year contract with the counties to process food waste, using artificial intelligence to separate organics from other trash. Walters is now seeking a city permit to expand its capacity from 140,000 tons of waste to 340,000.

Neighbors and business owners packed a standing-room-only Planning Commission meeting earlier in October to oppose Walters’ request, saying they already deal with odor, truck traffic, noise and litter on their streets. The commission voted 5-1 to reject the company’s request, putting the counties’ plans in jeopardy.

“There’s a $750 million development nearby that we have coming in,” said neighbor James DePoint, referencing a planned entertainment hub at 105th Avenue. “We have all this money invested in this, and then we’re going to double a garbage facility? On a hot summer day at a baseball game, we could have garbage smell as we’re having a beer and eating a hot dog?”

Leaders with Walters, which already takes some trash from the eastern counties, say they are working to ease residents’ fears, including adding technology to mitigate odor.

Trista Martinson, executive director of Ramsey/Washington Recycling and Energy, worries if the Blaine City Council denies the permit, it would hamper the metro’s efforts to meet the state requirement that all cities with a population over 5,000 offer curbside organics recycling by 2030.

“It would be a travesty, not only just for us but for the whole region,” she said. “As these policies come into play, there will be a requirement to do it. And we have to have the space.”

As Ramsey and Washington counties roll out their food scrap program, more tons of organic waste are being hauled to the counties’ Recycling and Energy Center in Newport.

Inside the facility, robotic arms search the heaps of trash and pick out the green compost bags off of a conveyor belt. After being processed in Newport, the food waste is sent to another facility in Shakopee to be composted.

County officials estimate 20% of waste is food scraps. And they expect the push toward curbside composting to help the metro meet a statewide goal of recycling 75% of its solid waste by 2030.

“We’re setting the example, in my opinion, on how we can reduce waste, recycle, avoid landfilling and make use of our waste as a resource,” Washington County Commissioner Fran Miron said.

But with more cities implementing the food scrap program, Martinson said, the Newport center has reached capacity. The counties’ Recycling and Energy Board last year sought to add sorting facilities and help process the growing amount of compostable food waste.

To serve northeastern metro cities, the board in March selected Walters, one of three companies to submit bids, to take and sort the organics.

Martinson said the counties have contracted with Walters since 2016, and the company now takes about 70,000 tons of their waste. For the new project, the company would expand its Blaine facility from 12,000 to 34,000 square feet.

Walters’ additional space will serve more communities as the organics recycling service expands. Anoka County, for example, included plans for meeting the state mandate in its new solid waste plan. Some of its cities, including Fridley, Columbia Heights and Circle Pines, already offer curbside composting.

“The program and sorting technology will provide residents with a simple process for collecting and disposing of food waste,” Jeff Newsom, Walters’ chief operating officer, said in an email. “The program requires no additional carts, no additional trucks for collection, reduces traffic, and is the most environmentally friendly approach versus other methods of collection.”

But in Blaine, neighbors are arguing the project should find a home elsewhere.

DePoint, who lives in the Sanctuary subdivision north of Walters, said several times a year the smell drives his family indoors.

“As we walk our kids to the bus stop, as we’re going for a walk, as my kids are playing in the front yard, they’ll be like: ‘Hey, Dad, I’m going to go inside. It smells awful,’” he said.

DePoint said the odor has persisted since Walters expanded its capacity to 140,000 tons in 2018. In addition to the smell, neighbors complain about the “beeping” of trucks that share their subdivision’s street and trash left on the road. They worry about the effects on home values and nearby businesses, including a planned rooftop restaurant.

Raising the trash capacity to 340,000 tons “would double the smell,” DePoint said.

Newsom said the odor is most noticeable during the hottest and most humid months of the year, but that the company is working to mitigate it as much as possible. He said Walters has hired a firm with odor management expertise to offer recommendations, and plans on using odor-neutralization liquids and adding high-plume fans to push air up and away from the nearby community. The Newport facility has a similar system.

He said the company is committed to being a good neighbor. George Walter, a company owner, has lived in the Sanctuary neighborhood for more than 20 years.

Blaine Planning Commission members sympathized with the dozens of residents who filled the recent meeting, saying they were concerned about problems compounding if the odor is already a nuisance.

Member Nichole Swanson said the metro “needs to come up with ways to deal with the garbage that we produce” and is worried about stalling efforts to meet state requirements. But she advocated for getting the “current issue taken care of” before expanding Walters’ capacity.

As Blaine’s population grows, Newsom argued the need for additional trash capacity also will increase, so the issue cannot be brushed to the side. He said the project “has the potential to positively impact not only residents in Ramsey and Washington counties but also hundreds of thousands of residents in Blaine and Anoka County.”

The Blaine City Council has the final say. It is expected to discuss the request at a Dec. 9 meeting.

Martinson worries a “no” vote from the council would stall plans for expanding curbside composting, and could force Ramsey and Washington counties to find another facility for the program.

Miron said he would hope to continue working with Walters to address concerns and then return to the council.

But residents continue to push council members to reject the facility’s expansion.

“It’s not built for being in a neighborhood,” DePoint said. “There’s 200-plus houses, and they’re always going to fight against this.”