Publicize, promote and use the varied businesses/services collecting and marketing used, repaired and rental consumer goods, especially electronics, in the city/county.
For the best, most educational household-level consumption-based GHG calculator, suitable for posting on city waste management/reuse/recycling pages, see the CoolClimate Network carbon footprint page.
Help is available from ReUSE Minnesota, a non-profit organization who goal is to increase the visibility of MN's reuse sector by highlighting its economic, social and environmental benefits. Rental and sharing businesses arbitrage surplus capacity, increasing the productivity of existing goods and services. Examples include tool and house rental/sharing, coupon businesses helping fill unused restaurant/event seats, shared office and kitchen space, and bike/car rental/sharing. See 32 recommended Policies for Shareable Cities that enable cities to benefit from the sharing economy in the areas of food, jobs, housing, and transportation. The term collaborative consumption describes the shift in consumer values from ownership to access, and how promoters around the world are using network technologies to do more with less by renting, lending, swapping, bartering, gifting and sharing products on a scale never before possible.
See, for example, Hennepin County's Choose to Reuse directory and their fix-it clinics that pair volunteer repair people with community members who bring in broken household items.
Identify and provide city economic development support to relevant businesses; promote events such as fix-it clinics; encourage community members to shop at and donate to such businesses; post the CoolClimate household-level consumption-based GHG calculator on the city solid waste page. Report under action 25.4 efforts to strengthen value-added businesses utilizing local "waste" material.
Publicize and promote reuse/repair/rental businesses on your city website, in newsletter articles; facilitate neighbor-to-neighbor reuse of large items before annual 'curbside cleanups.'
Document increased use of these businesses; organize volunteers (or support others) to run at least one "fix-it" clinic for community members.
Who's doing it
Coon Rapids - 3 star
Date action report first entered:
Date of last report update:
Year action initially completed:
Implementation details:
Coon Rapids works to promote reuse and repair services to residents especially for problem materials that are difficult to recycle. Coon Rapids helped to promote Anoka County's first Fix-It Clinic in October 2014. Coon Rapids has a relationship with Bridging, a nonprofit that works to provide reused furniture for local families in need and works to promote this service to residents. The city also works with A Greener Read to reuse all books, CDs and DVDs whenever possible and recycle as a second option.
The city website also promotes other options for reuse including problem materials and links to the Anoka County Recyclopedia which has other helpful information for local reuse and repair services .
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
From April-September 2014, approximately 5,000 lbs of books, CDs and DVDs were collected for reuse when possible and recycled as a second option.
The City of Elk River's website features an updated disposal/recycling guide as well as a link to Earth911.com which provides further information for recycling.
The City of Elk River hosted their first Fix-It Clinic in the fall of 2014 and plan to host two clinics annually.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
The Fix-It Clinic had a wildly successful inaugural event with a 92% success rate by weight, or 325.8 pounds saved from the landfill.
Extensive reduce/reuse, recycling, organics, and household hazardous waste education is available to residents 24/7 via the City of Farmington’s website. In conjunction with Dakota County, the city hosts an interactive website tool that allows residents to type in the item they wish to dispose of and then disposal options are shown, with reuse/donation options showing first. The city’s website also links to an interactive reuse tool that provides the locations and specialties of businesses that support reuse throughout the county, such as repair shops and thrift stores.
Also, the City of Farmington, in partnership with Dakota County, hosts at least one Fix-It Clinic each year. These events teach participants how to repair items, thus keeping additional material out of the landfill and reducing consumption.
City of West St. Paul partners with Dakota County to host Fix-It Clinics at the local library, and to help spread the word to residents about this valuable opportunity. Social media is used by the city as well as flyers and posters provided by the County.
City businesses include a second-hand shop (Sibley Seconds), a consignment shop (Hip Hop Family Shop) and a shabby chic occasional shop (Two Old Goats):all of which promote donating and/or purchasing used goods.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Arlington has a strong downtown shopping appeal which includes these three anchor shops.
City Staff recently took pictures of its area businesses and will update the City's website with contact information, summary of service, etc.
The City is hosting its first ever fix-it clinic this summer. The event will be staffed by volunteers and put on for community members. The City has also publicized and promoted reuse/rental/repair businesses through the monthly environmental education newsletters, the link to which is attached.
The City annually hosts “Mighty Tidy Day” to provide residents with a monitored site to dispose of items that cannot be donated such as old mattresses and sofas, broken bicycles, unwanted tires and outdated electronics. Residents who bring furniture and household items in good condition can donate them to Bridging, a non-profit organization that provides quality goods to people transitioning out of homelessness and poverty. There are also several second-hand shops in the City, including Empty the Nest, Tech Dump, and the PRISM thrift store, where residents can bring gently used goods.
Recycling information and links to Hennepin County materials, including the A-Z disposal guide, are available on the City website and in the bimonthly newsletter.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
In 2017, during the Mighty Tidy Day event, 584 residents dropped off 84 appliances, 15,008 pounds of electronics and 9,503 pounds of paper to be shredded. Republic Services filled five dumpsters of miscellaneous debris and garbage.
In 2016, residents disposed of the following items at the Mighty Tidy Day event:
6,976 pounds of paper (to shred),
520 light bulbs,
87 flat panel TVs/monitors,
94 small appliances,
37 large appliances,
73 pieces of scrap metal,
60 mattresses/couches,
61 box springs/chairs,
6 tires with rims,
21 tires without rims,
and 106.5 cubic yards of miscellaneous debris.
The total tonnage of scrap metal, mattresses, couches, box springs, chairs, and miscellaneous debris hauled away by Republic Services was 25.95 tons. Shred-N-Go, Tech Dump, and Better Futures provided recycling services for all paper, light-bulbs, and appliances respectively.
Recycling programs. The County manages solid waste for the City, and runs the recycling center located by the hospital. The recycling center takes plastics (#1&2), cans, glass, cardboard, mixed paper, and waste oil. The county runs computers/electronics collection twice a year, and has hazardous waste collection days twice a year.
The county and city supported the development of, and promote on the County web-site, a second-hand store (the Budget Shop) at the recycling site to facilitate reuse.
To facilitate recycling by tourists and visitors, the City has placed recycling receptacles throughout the downtown/harbor/tourist area, immediately adjacent to the waste receptacles.
Senior center – 1st and 2nd – volunteers who earn money for non-profits of their choice. Odd & Ends – volunteer run facility for furniture recycling and reuse.
The city also provides recycling services at its campground, collecting a variety of recyclables that enter the County recycling system.
The Recyclopedia is a waste reduction guide published every few years by twelve cities, including Hopkins, in the west metro area and mailed to all postal customers in western Hennepin County.It is also featured on the Hopkins Web Site and is handed out at City events. It features an alphabetical index of common items and how to dispose of them locally without throwing them away.
There are also many local businesses that collect used and repaired goods such as clothing, books and toys. These stores include Shop Again, Something Safari, Nine, and Steve's Train City.
Hennepin County also has a choose to reuse program. http://hennepin.us/choosetoreuse
There is no way to track the impact on City businesses, since they do not report sales, etc to us.
Fix-it Clinics have been held within the City of Inver Grove Heights by Dakota County. The City has promotes these events to city residents, where they can bring in items that need repair. Annually city-wide garage sale is held, where residents are encouraged to host a garage sale on their private property over the same weekend. The City advertises their address on a map created for those interested in attending the garage sale. This event typically occurs a month before the City's annual Clean-Up Day. The City of Inver Grove Heights also hosts a community sale at the Veteran's Memorial Community Center, where residents reserve a table to sell their unwanted items.
The city has a webpage devoted to recycling and collection of goods for the purpose of re-use of those materials. On that webpage they have a link to Ramsey counties's very expansive list of re-use, recycling, and safe disposal companies.
For 2013, instead of the traditional fall cleanup event the city partnered with Allied Waste/Republic Services, the city's trash collector to host the Fall Cleanup Campaign. For two weeks in October the vendor collected large bulky items curbside from residents for 50% reduced fee. In conjunction with the bulky trash item collection the city also provided residents a list of organization that would accept gently used furniture, clothes, and household material.
For all the city cleanup events the city has partnered with various organizations to promote reuse. The city has worked with Bridging, Goodwill, Disabled American Veterans, Re-cycle, Local Shredding Companies and a few small engine mechanics to recover as much material as possible from the waste stream.
Since 2011, Re-Cycle, the city' bike recycling vendor has recovered over 438 bikes for a total of 11,000 pounds of material collected at the annual cleanup events.
The city of Maplewood has also increased the amount of recycling available for businesses. During 2014 there were 16 new businesses signed up for the recycling program which diverted 30,000 lbs of recyclables from the waste stream.
As a city in Dakota County, Mendota Heights has the county Recycling Guide search tool embedded in the city website that provides residents with local resources to reuse, recycle or dispose of (in that order) their unwanted material.
City businesses include several second-hand shops, including Unique Thrift Store, Arc's Value Village, and SCOUT Vintage Collective, all of which promote donating and purchasing used goods.
New Hope is part of the three city Hennepin Recycling Group (HRG). The HRG does an annual collection of products not suitable for weekly garbage collection as well as an every-other-year curbside collection of such goods. The three HRG cities have curbside single-sort recycling collection for all single-family homes. The Environmental Quality Commission does an annual collection utilizing Tech Dump for collection and recycling of old electronic equipment.
The City promotes recycling and other solid waste disposal resources on the city website. The City actively promotes Hennepin County resources such as Fix-It Clinics on social media and in newsletters, and other recycling services and centers on our website and in newsletters. The City helps to promote the annual resident-run citywide garage sale.
The recycling section of the city's website contains details on what can be recycled, how to recycle,an A-Z disposal guide, re-use businesses and charities, along with information on how to generate less waste.
The city provides reuse information on the web site and publishes information in support of reuse month in the newsletter. The web site also includes information about reduce/reuse/recycle programs including places to take problem materials.
Dakota Valley Recycling, a JPO, that administers the City's recycling actions, offers a fact sheet Donate Items for Reuse, which includes the Goodwill in Apple Valley. Other locations throughout Dakota County that Dakota Valley Recycling has promoted in the past include the Chap Value Store in Burnsville, Salvation Army in Burnsville, Building Materials Outlet in Eagan and the Recycling Zone.
Crystal is part of the three city Hennepin Recycling Group (HRG). The HRG does an annual collection of products not suitable for weekly garbage collection as well as an every other year curbside collection of such goods. The three HRG have curbside single sort recycling collection for all single family homes. The Environmental Quality Commission does an annual collection utilizing Tech Dump for collection and recycling of old electronic equipment.
The City of Eden Prairie hosted a Hennepin County Fix-it Clinic at the Eden Prairie Senior Center on August 10, 2013. The City promoted the event on the City Website, in the Senior Center newsletter and class program guide, and Living Green news.
Otter Tail County operates a household hazardous waste product exchange facility in Fergus Falls. Free books and a materials exchange list is promoted on the county’s website, but most of the businesses using the facility are located within Fergus Falls.
The City of Hastings municipality helps advertise opportunities for reuse and repair in Dakota County, including monthly Fix-It Clinics to assist residents in repairing household items; reuse area of The Recycling Zone; and, the Dakota County Reuse Guide, which lists donation resources.
Re-use of building materials, furniture and appliances.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Habitat for Humanity established a RESTORE operation in the city of LaPrairie. The purpose of this facility to gather and resale the above mentioned items. The city encourages residents and businesses to donate items and shop at the RESTORE. Funds collected for the re-purchased items are used for Habitat for Humanity projects.
The City continues to promote recycling, composting and reuse opportunities in Saint Paul. Examples include promoting Recycle Your Holidays, local recycling drop offs, Fix-it Clinics, Twin Cities Market, Ramsey County A to Z recycling Guide and Reuse & Donations Guide and more.
Yes, the City's webpage hosts many options for residents and businesses to recycle items properly. The City also reprints/advertises additional recycling options in the City's newsletter, such as electronics recycling at private collectors like Best Buy, Staples, and Retrofit Recycling.
The City also offers a clean up day twice a year and collected approximately 12 tons of electronics from residents in 2012.
