About Us
Who we are
The Division of Solid Waste & Recycling provides garbage, recycling, organics recycling, large item and yard waste collection service and provides customers with drop-off vouchers to dispose of excess waste at the City's South Transfer Station. Services are provided to approximately 290,000 residents in 107,000 dwelling units. This includes all 1-4 unit residential buildings, less than 200 larger residential or commercial properties, residential parks, and municipal buildings. Crews also pick up 500 litter containers placed at bus shelters and throughout the city. Solid Waste & Recycling also provides garbage and recycling services for private and City sponsored events, and manages Clean City Minneapolis, a catalog of community beautification programs, including graffiti enforcement and abatement.
Collection services are provided by City of Minneapolis crews, and a consortium of private garbage haulers, Minneapolis Refuse Incorporated (MRI). City and MRI each collect from approximately half of the city. Customers are charged for the service on their City of Minneapolis utility bill each month. See billing for more information.
Our 2020 Fact Sheet provides an overview of all Solid Waste & Recycling services.
Waste collected
The City contracts for the processing of materials collected.
- Residential garbage is brought to the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, a waste-to-energy facility in downtown Minneapolis.
- Recycling is brought to a material recovery facility (MRF) within City limits.
- Organics and yard waste are brought to a transfer station within City limits where they are loaded into semi-trucks to be brought to a commercial composting facility.
- City crews process large metal items and appliances before selling the metal to scrap metal vendors. The City has contracts for the processing of electronics and mattresses.
A contractor is hired for day-to-day operations at the South Transfer Station and to manage garbage and construction and demolition debris collected at the site.
In 2019, a total of 138,816 tons (down from 141,450 tons in 2018) of material were collected by Solid Waste & Recycling. This includes excess garbage and construction and demolition debris brought to the South Transfer Station. The breakdown of waste is as follows:
- Waste to Energy: 57.91%
- Recycled 20.29%
- Composted: 17.98%
- Landfilled (C&D from Transfer Station): 3.81%
Total diversion for 2019 was 38.27%. (Waste-to-energy is not counted as diverted.)
Some improvements for 2019 include:
- Increase in organics sign-ups 2% and over 400 additional tons of organics diverted
- Increase in total diversion rate 1.28% (up from 36.99%)
- Reduction in total municipal solid waste (MSW) generated just under 1,500 tons
Statistics for the past three years. For additional information, please contact our office or fill out a request for public data.
Studies and Reports
Recent Solid Waste & Recycling studies and reports include:
- October 2019 - 2019 Multiunit Recycling Evaluation
- August 2019 - 2019 Organics Recycling Sort Results
- April 2019 - 2018 Recycling Contamination Evaluation
- January 2019 - 2018 Solid Waste & Recycling customer resident survey results
- May 2018 - 2018 Organics Recycling Sort Results
- January 30, 2018 - Litter Solutions - Staff presentation to the Transportation & Public Works Committee
- January 23, 2018 - Organics outreach, education and minimizing contamination - Staff presentation at the United States Composting Council Conference
Program milestones
- 2012: Citywide mattress recycling collection began
- 2012-2013: Transitioned from multi-sort recycling to one-sort recycling program
- 2014-2015: Added organics recycling drop-offs while citywide organics program was being developed
- 2015-2016: Organics recycling program rolled-out citywide
- 2017-2018: Clean City Classroom program piloted
- 2018: Litter Be Gone, a citywide litter cleanup program, implemented
For additional information, consultant studies or reports, contact our office or submit a request for public data.
Last updated Jan 24, 2020
