We have a contamination problem.
Compost It Right! is an awareness campaign supported by grant funding from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The campaign’s goal is to help Hutchinson rebuild the purity of its organics collection to what it used to be twenty years ago when the service began. Thanks to grant funding from the MPCA supporting “Compost It Right!”, Hutchinson hopes to eliminate contamination in organics.
Residents are putting the wrong items in their organics carts.
Contaminated material within collected organics.
A growing percentage (currently almost 9%) of material from residential organics carts coming to the City’s CreekSide organics processing facility is too contaminated to process effectively and meet the quality standards for finished compost. It takes too much time and labor to remove this material. Plastic bags, glass, and other non-compostable items in residents’ carts make it impossible to create a high-quality finished product with this material.
CreekSide Soil recognizes that their customers will not purchase a product which is contaminated with fragments of packaging, metals, plastics, and pieces of glass. Therefore, loads with these contaminants are not utilized as finished compost and this negates the economic and environmental benefits of collecting organics separately from the trash.
STOP contaminating organics carts!
Keep your compost bin clean of unapproved materials.
As important as it is to compost, it is more important to compost right. Consider simplifying what your household puts into your organics cart. This can help the City achieve its goal of creating marketable compost. Do your part: keep cardboard, plastic, glass, rocks, and large sticks out of your organics cart!
Giving Back to Our Community.
If we all do our part, Hutchinson’s CreekSide facility can expand sales of high-quality compost free from trash that can be used to revive soils, grow nutritious local food and generate greater revenue for our City. Currently, CreekSide contributes over $100,000 annually to the City budget. Hutchinson uses CreekSide’s compost to build healthy soils for our City parks and gardens. Let’s all work to fix the contamination problem so CreekSide can generate even more revenue for the City.
