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now available in Lake Elmo <br />Ramsey and Washington counties’ Food Scraps <br />Pickup Program, a new way for residents <br />to recycle food scraps from home, is now available <br />in 19 new communities in Washington County, <br />including Lake Elmo. <br />Twenty percent of trash in Ramsey and <br />Washington counties is food scraps, such as fruit <br />and vegetable peels, eggshells and bones. <br />This program offers an easy, accessible and environmentally friendly way for <br />residents to manage food scraps at home. The program will roll out over multiple years and eventually <br />be available to all residents of Ramsey and Washington counties. <br />Residents interested in participating in the program can sign up and place a bag order at no cost on the <br />Food Scraps Pickup Program website or by calling 651-661-9393. An annual supply of 6-gallon or 13- <br />gallon food scrap bags will ship directly to participants’ homes with an instruction guide on how to start <br />collecting food scraps. Each week, or when a food scrap bag is full, residents will tie a knot at the top <br />and then place the bag inside their trash cart or dumpster to be collected by their trash hauler. The <br />program-provided food scrap bags are designed to be extra durable, so they don’t tear open during the <br />trip in the garbage truck. <br />After collection, food scrap bags and trash are hauled to the Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy <br />Center (R&E Center), where the food scrap bags are sorted from the trash using robotic sorting <br />technology and sent to an industrial compost facility to become compost. This program is making <br />progress toward Minnesota’s 75% recycling goal for metro counties and is a significant step forward in <br />helping the counties reduce their climate impact.