With our curbside organics program, we have done research and testing on BPI-certified bags that are strong enough to be co-collected with your garbage. This bag can only be found on Amazon.com and is the only brand we recommend for our curbside organics program. Ordering the bag directly from Amazon allows you the flexibility to place an order at your convenience and have them shipped directly to you.
Here is the information along with the link to Amazon on the recommended and approved bpi-certified organic bag. Moonygreen Compostable Bags 13 Gallon
GUIDE TO COMPOSTING
How to get started on Curbside Organics Recycling.
- Please contact Walters Recycling (763) 780-8464 to get signed up for our curbside organics program. With this step, the driver will be alerted to look for your organic bag. We are charging a monthly fee for organics collection. It is a $10/month non-taxable fee. In addition, we also reduce your trash BASE rate by $3 a month as organics is a non-taxable material.
- Order your bags from Amazon.com Moonygreen Compostable Bags 13 Gallon
- Collect your food scraps and food-soiled paper products.
- Empty your food scraps & food-soiled paper products into the approved BPI-certified organics bag.
- On trash day, simply hand tie the 13-gallon BPI Certified Organics bag containing your household’s food waste and non-recyclable papers and place it on the top of the trash INSIDE your regular trash cart. We will pull all Organics bags from other trash at the curb and put them in another container on the truck and off they will go to a composting facility.
- Below is a list of what is acceptable and not acceptable when it comes to organics recycling.
Composting the
GOOD STUFF + BAD STUFF
Here are a few lists of what should be composted, and what should not.
Acceptable Organics Recycling
Food waste and food-soiled paper are called organic waste. It includes:
- Food Scraps
- Fruits & Vegetable scraps
- Meats, fish & bones
- Bread, pasta, & baked goods
- Spoiled leftovers
- Egg and nut shells
- Dairy products
- Tea leaves (staples removed)
- Coffee grounds
- Food-soiled paper products
- Paper towels & napkins
- Paper plates & cups (uncoated)
- Pizza boxes
- Paper Egg cartons
- Tea bags (staples removed)
- Coffee Filters
- Other Compostable Items
- Tissues & cotton balls
- Floral trimmings & house plants
- BPI-Certified materials
Non-Acceptable Materials for Organics
These items should not go into your organics bag
- Twist Ties
- Plastics
- Plastic bags
- Glass
- Metal
- Styrofoam
- Foil / Aluminum
- Straws
- Microwave Popcorn bags
- K-Cups from single serving Coffees
- Diapers or wipes
- Pet Droppings – Kitty Litter
- Feminine Hygiene products
- Cigarette butts
- Rocks or bricks
- Automobile & engine fluids
- Band-Aids or first aid items
- Batteries
- Candles or wax
- Candy or chip wrappers
- Rubber wine corks
- Gum
- Garden Trimmings or Yard waste
- Juice boxes or Pouches
- Chalk, crayons
- Markers & Pens
- Dusting wipes
- Detergents: (liquids, power, sheets or tablets)
- Butter or margin wrappers
- Paper Plates and cups (unless they are BPI certified)
- Waxed parchment paper
- Wax-coated paperboard packaging
- Take out or To go packaging (unless it’s BPI certified)
- Dryer Line
- Cork
- Q-tips
- Frozen foods and refrigerated food packaging
Some tips to make composting easier
Again, discard your food waste and food-soiled paper from meals, your refrigerator and the pantry into a kitchen compost bucket, separate from your other household trash. Use a kitchen scraps recycling setup that is most convenient for you and your household. You may already have a ventilated kitchen compost bucket for your kitchen scraps. Some households prefer to line the compost bucket with newspaper, a paper bag or an empty paperboard carton. These items are compostable right along with the kitchen scraps.
Or you may prefer to line your compost bucket with the 3-gallon compostable organics bpi certified bag, and once that bag is full, you can transfer the bag and it’s contents into your 13-gallon bag. This method allows for you to collect organics on your kitchen counter and makes the collection process easy.
- Experiment based on your unique situation.
- The organic bags are compostable, but designed to last.
- Adding non-recyclable paper such as paper towels, Kleenex to your organics bag will help absorb wetness and extend the life of your bag.
- If your using a kitchen counter bucket that does not have ventilation, be sure to keep the lid cracked to allow a little bit of air.
Frequently Asked Questions
A. Yes, It’s important that you notify us that you will be participating in the program. We will need to make adjustments to your account, one of which notifies the driver of your address and alerts them to look for your organics bag. In addition, there is a small reduction to your trash bill, as one third of the trash becomes non-taxable.
A. As soon as you’ve received your Organics bags, you may get started on the program! Remember to contact Walters Recycling first in order to have your stop identified in our system so your driver will know to look for your organics bag and pull it from your cart.
A: You should store them in a cool dry place. If you store them in a warm area like the garage in the summer time, the heat will shorten the life span of the bags.
A. Hand Tie the bag tightly (No twist ties) and simply place the bag on top of your trash INSIDE your trash cart, so it’s easy for our driver to remove it from your trash container on your service day.
A. No, we understand that there are several different bag options on the market and sold in big box stores as well as online however, those bags have also been tested in our curbside program and are not recommended or approved for our program because those bags are thin, brittle, and tend to rupture before you can get it from your home to the garbage cart or we can get them from the cart to our truck.
A. BPI certified is the certification process that compostable materials go through to show that they are compostable at an industrial composting facility. All BPI Certified items will have the BPI logo on the object or the box they come in.
The logo is:
A: No, These plastic bags are not BPI Certified so they will not breakdown in the composting process.
A. The material accepted in curbside organics will be brought to a commercial processing facility, which means this program allows you to place meat, bones, dairy, compostable plastics and paper waste in your organics green bag. This material will break down in an industrial composting facility because of the heat that is generated in the composting process, approximately 150 degrees. Commercial compost facilities maintain their compost at higher temperatures than backyard compost bins, so you can include more materials. The higher temperatures kill bacteria and breakdown items that cannot be composted in a backyard system, including the meat, bones, citrus, dairy, and compostable plastics.
A. You should not have a problem with either item if you have not had a problem in the past. The waste that is being separated and collected is the same waste that was always being collected. We do recommend a 13 gallon trash can that has a lid to reduce any fruit flies that could come from fruit being purchased in the spring and summer time.
A. Please check out this composting article for more information.
A. No, Yard waste is not accepted in the organics bag or your garbage cart. It should still be collected from your yard and either composted in a backyard compost system, or simply give us a call to set up yard waste service 763.780.8464. The Organics bag is for only collecting your organic waste. For a detailed list of materials that are acceptable the section above.
A: REMEMBER: On trash day, simply hand tie the 13-gallon BPI Certified Organics bag containing your household’s food waste and non-recyclable papers and place it on the top of the trash INSIDE your regular trash cart. Our drivers are instructed to pull all Green Bag Organics from other trash at the curb and put it in another container on the truck and with your MSW will be taken to our transfer station. The organics will then be transferred to a state permitted industrial composting facility where it will be processed and turned into compost.
A. Pet waste is not included in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) definition of source separated compostable material and is therefore not accepted under current permit requirements.
A. Organic material comprises about 30% of the average family’s trash. When this material is thrown in the trash, it ends up in a landfill where it takes up valuable space and contributes greenhouse gases. Similar to cans, bottles, and paper, you can transform organic waste into a valuable product by separating it out for recycling. Sorting organics out at home allows you to make something useful of your waste!
