City Council Meeting Date: August 3, 2026
To: Mayor and Members of Council
City Administrator
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
David Bennett, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Title
Consider Approval of Residential Curbside Compost/Organic Recycling Program Direction.
Body
Action Requested:
City Council is asked to approve a motion directing staff to prepare bids, timelines, and other relevant information for a universal residential curbside organics recycling program for further Council review and consideration of release for proposals.
Summary Report:
At its December 2025 meeting, the City Council removed organics recycling from the residential waste contract. Since that time, staff have conducted additional research on organics recycling programs, including legal and policy considerations, participation rates, and implementation approaches used by other Minnesota communities.
Through this research, staff learned that if the City were to implement a citywide organics collection program through a residential waste contract, state law would require all residents to be charged equally for recycling services, including organics recycling. This information changes the feasibility of some program structures previously discussed by Council. At the July 7, 2026 meeting, the City Council discussed the following three options for organic recycling:
1) Maintain the current approach, allowing residents to subscribe directly to private organics collection service through Curbside Compost.
2) Maintain the current approach while expanding organics access through additional drop-off locations and future coordination with Dakota County. This option aligns with Dakota County's 2030 goals.
3) Implement a universal curbside organics recycling program for all residential customers with an implementation target for mid-2027.
Staff met with Curbside Compost, which indicated strong interest in a universal compost program acknowledged that the service will...
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