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Compost Transfer Facility Policy Forward The primary purpose of the Elk River compost transfer facility is to provide residents of Sherburne County with a means of disposal of yard waste, brush, organics recycling, and used oils. Four compost transfer facilities are operated throughout Sherburne County in Elk River, Zimmerman, Big Lake, and Becker. These facilities are available to all residents of Sherburne County and any site may be utilized using a standard access card common among the sites. Partial funding of the sites is provided by Sherburne County in the form of a SCORE grant with the remaining balance for each site funded by the respective cities. These facilities provide residents of Sherburne County a convenient and free location for disposal of compostable materials. Material within the Elk River facility is divided into four categories; grass and leaves, brush and logs, organics recycling, and waste oil. Residents are required to separate their waste into the appropriate piles or storage containers to prevent contamination of each individual recycled material. As a yard waste compost transfer facility, the city does not conduct any composting of the materials on site and does not provide processed compost materials to the public. Composting facilities are defined and regulated by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency into 5 categories: ▪Backyard composting – Utilized for homeowners to compost materials for their personal use. Does not require a permit. ▪Organics drop-off sites – Community collection sites for disposal of household compostable food waste, utilized for collection and transport. Does not require a permit. ▪Small compost sites – Small compost sites limited to 120 cubic yards of material for community gardens, universities, apartment buildings, commercial properties, etc. Does not require a permit. ▪Yard waste compost transfer facility – Large scale collection site for yard waste to include leaves, grass clippings, vegetation, brush and logs. No composting is conducted on site, these sites are primarily utilized as collection areas for materials to be transported to a secondary site (yard waste compost facility) for processing. Requires a permit. ▪Yard waste compost facility – Large scale sites utilized for processing yard waste into a suitable composted material. Requires a permit. Elk River’s site falls into two categories of compost facilities: organics drop-off site and yard waste compost transfer facility. In addition to these services, the site also houses a used oil collection container. The city contracts with outside vendors to remove collected materials from the facility which they then process into other recycled materials. This policy is a summary of procedures and policies of the City as they relate to the compost transfer site operations. Page 150 of 254