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<br /> <br />Request for Action <br /> <br /> <br />To Item Number <br /> <br />Mayor and City Council 8.1 <br />Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by <br /> <br />General BusinessMay 4, 2015Kristin Mroz, Environmental Technician <br />Item Description Reviewed by <br /> <br />Blue Bag Organics Program Cal Portner, City Administrator <br />Reviewed by <br /> <br /> <br />Action Requested <br /> <br />Discuss Blue Bag Organics® program changes. Presentation by Jim Wollschlager, Chief Operating Office <br />of Randy’s Environmental Services. <br /> <br />Background/Discussion <br /> <br />Curbside Organics Recycling became available to City of Elk River residents in 2009. Participation since <br />then has remained steady at around 400 households. The current service requires residents to order a <br />separate organics cart for curbside pickup and a separate organics truck picks up the carts for both Allied <br />Waste/Republic Services and Randy’s Environmental Services customers. <br /> <br />Randy’s Environmental Services is proposing the program be changed to the Blue Bag Organics® <br />program which eliminates the extra cart and truck by providing special durable, compostable bags to <br />customers to toss directly in their trash carts. Great River Energy has agreed to assist in pulling out the <br />organics bags when they arrive at their facility and the bags are then taken for composting via Randy’s <br />Environmental Services. Participants will receive a free bag of compost annually. <br /> <br />This new program will provide residents with a year’s supply of either 13 gallon or 33 gallon Blue Bags. <br />Staff is not anticipating any changes to the monthly service fee ($4 per month) at this time except that the <br />33 gallon bags will cost $6.50 per month. <br /> <br />Staff expects the program to begin July 1 with a soft roll-out to those currently participating. Organics <br />carts will be removed by the haulers and educational materials will be sent out. <br /> <br />Financial Impact <br /> <br />An estimated additional $30,000 will be used from Landfill Abatement funds to cover additional costs <br />until the garbage, recycling, and organics prices currently charged can be re-evaluated. <br /> <br />Attachments <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />None <br /> <br /> <br />