Fargo no longer accepting glass for all-in-one curbside recycling

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – Fargo’s Solid Waste Department tentatively agrees with MinnKota Recycling to eliminate glass recycling through its all in one curbside program by March 6.

“Single stream is a very small percentage of the volume of material. It’s the commercial waste that you really need to keep an eye on,” MinnKota Recycling Sales Manager Mary Aldrich said.

Fargo’s MinnKota Recycling can no longer bail plastic, cardboard, cans and glass together and ship it to a company in Minneapolis based on its needs. The business says there’s declining markets to sell glass to, it’s hard on equipment and is an injury risk.

“Glass is 10 to 20 percent of our total volume, so just that extra weight of that with the fuel prices and things like that is making it unfavorable to continue recycling glass,” Fargo Recycling Coordinator Jen Pickett said.

People can still drop glass off at 20 recycling sites across town.

“What I anticipate will happen is people will start taking it out with their garbage and it may not be as easy to get to the dedicated recycle bins,” Fargo City Commissioner John Strand said.

The city reuses glass at its inert site at the landfill to separate things like wood and construction items and common household waste. That eliminates the need to buy sand to do it.

Commissioners are concerned the city is adding more to the landfill.

“Total tonnage in all-in-one recycling is 800 tons annually. Our total tonnage at the landfill is 230,000 tons so the impact is pretty small, about 0.3 percent,” Fargo Director of Solid Waste Scott Olson said.

Some wonder if there is a better alternative.

“It would be interesting to know what the carbon footprint is for our current program and is it efficient because now we’re shipping our recycling to Minneapolis. That doesn’t seem very efficient. Seems like we should be trying to do something here,” Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn said.

Moorhead is also looking into no longer allowing all-in-one glass recycling. West Fargo goes through a different company than MinnKota.

Click here to see all the Fargo recycling drop sites.