Ramsey and Washington counties are working together to bring residents a new way to recycle food scraps from home—the Food Scraps Pickup Program! Food scraps such as fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells and coffee grounds make up 20% of trash. Recycling food scraps helps turn them into soil rather than waste. The Food Scraps Pickup Program is currently available to all residents of the following cities: 

• Ramsey County: Maplewood and North St. Paul 

• Washington County: Afton, Bayport, Baytown Township, Birchwood, Cottage Grove, Dellwood, Denmark Township, Grant, Grey Cloud Island Township, Lake Elmo, Lake St. Croix Beach, Lakeland Shores, Lakeland, Landfall, Mahtomedi, Newport, Oak Park Heights, Oakdale, Pine Springs, St. Mary’s Point, St. Paul Park, Stillwater, Stillwater Township, West Lakeland Township, Willernie and Woodbury 

The program will roll out to the remaining residents of Ramsey and Washington counties over the next few years. Residents interested in participating in the program can check their eligibility, sign up and place a bag order at no cost at FoodScrapsPickup.com or by calling 651-661-9393.  

An annual supply of 6-gallon or 13-gallon food scrap bags will ship directly to participants’ homes. Each week, or when a food scrap bag is full, residents will tie a knot at the top and then place the bag inside their trash cart or dumpster to be collected by their trash hauler. The program-provided food scrap bags are designed to be extra durable, so they don’t tear open during the trip in the garbage truck. After collection, food scrap bags and trash are hauled to the Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center (R&E Center), where the food scrap bags are sorted from the trash using robotic sorting technology and sent to an industrial compost facility to become compost. 

*This is a program provided by Ramsey and Washington counties and is not a hauler program*