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Ramsey County Source-Separated Organics (SSO) Collection Background In September 2013 the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners approved expansion of services at yard waste sites to include collection of source-separated organic (SSO) materials. Shortly thereafter, Environmental Health Division (EH) staff began seeking local permits, where necessary, for SSO service at the seven Ramsey County Yard Waste sites. The County was successful in gaining local approval for all yard waste sites except the Arden Hills location. The six approved sites were subsequently given approval by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as Permit-By-Rule SSO Materials Transfer Facilities. SSO collection began at the six approved sites when the sites opened for the regular season on April 7, 2014 and continue to accept SSO year around on the following schedule, weather permitting: Regular Season Hours (April – November) Winter Hours (December – March) M,W,F 11-7 CLOSED Sat. 9-5 Sat. 9-5 Sun. 11-5 Sun. 11-5 Source Separated Organics (SSO) accepted at county drop-off locations • All food scraps including vegetables, fruits, meats (including fats and grease), poultry, fish, bones, grains, dairy, egg shells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags etc. • Food soiled paper products including greasy pizza boxes, paper towels, paper plates, tissues, paper egg cartons, dirty paper bags, etc. • Other compostable items such as BPI-certified cups and utensils. Note: The County’s education materials include a caution that packaging and compostable tableware must have the logo from the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) on the box or item. Description of SSO Collection Services at Yard Waste Sites SSO collection at the yard waste sites is available to residents of Ramsey County and local community coordinators that generate SSO from small events. • Each site has a designated area with one or more covered containers (“dumpsters”) in which people place SSO brought to the site in compostable bags. • SSO is kept separate from yard waste. • Acceptable materials include food waste/scraps and various types of soiled/low-grade/non-recyclable paper (plus some other minor items typically accepted in SSO collection programs, such as tea bags). • County staff (yard waste monitors) serve as quality control. • Ramsey County provides Biodegradable Product Institute (BPI)-certified compostable bags free of charge to residents at site locations and local community centers. • Sanimax, LLC provided hauling services during the first three years of the SSO collection program. Ramsey County switched to Waste Management, Inc. as the contracted hauler on April 1, 2017. • Containers are serviced weekly and SSO is hauled to a commercial organics facility for composting. Participation Charts 1 & 2 below show an increase in participation by month/year and an overall annual increase in 2014 - 2016 (collection began April 7, 2014, so there were no first quarter numbers to report for 2014). Hours shorten to weekends- only during December – March resulting in fewer opportunities for residents to drop off organics and less combined yard waste/organics delivery options. However, as site hours decrease over the winter months, site visits and volume of organics collected remains similar to the regular season and reinforces the need for winter collection.