City Recycling Resources
Washington County offers a municipal recycling grant program to assist cities and townships with residential recycling program expenses. Grant funding levels are dependent on municipality household counts and recycling program activities. Funding levels are outlines in the guidelines below. Cities and townships are encouraged to apply for the maximum level of funding.
A recycling best practices continuum has been developed to assist cities and townships in generating ideas for project level grant funding. It is the intent of these projects to increase education and awareness among residents regarding residential recycling. These efforts will help guide a community towards increased recycling rates.
Through the recycling performance scorecard development process, the county realized the need to research and develop a standard list of items to be collected in all recycling programs in the county. This list is provided to cities and townships to be included in ordinances, hauler licenses and/or recycling contracts as a curbside residential recycling requirement. With the assistance of a private consultant, the following list was created based on the following specifications:
- Adequate supply of material
- Ability for haulers to collect the materials
- Demand by processers, manufacturers, exporters, etc
- Long-term market stability
Public Health and Environment hosts quarterly meetings for city and township recycling coordinators. The meetings provide valuable learning opportunities and encourage collaboration across communities in Washington County.
Meeting topics include the county’s recycling grant program, resources available for use and distribution at community events, and discussions on innovative ways to reinvigorate residential recycling and waste reduction programs. The department publishes electronic agendas and meetings materials for the recycling coordinators.
Educational Resources
Washington County has developed a series of social media graphics, images, and handouts that can be used by cities and townships. To save a photo from our photo gallery, right click on the photo and select "Save picture as".
Social media graphics can be used to promote residential recycling best practices. These core messages are based on the Recycling at Home postcard and the standard list of residential curbside recyclables.
Download the corresponding social media message to use with each graphic.
The “Be a Battery Hero Campaign” is a social media campaign to promote residential battery disposal best practices. The campaign is shared between Hennepin, Ramsey, and Washington Counties, created through the Partnership on Waste and Energy (PWE).
Download campaign assets at recyclingandenergy.org/batteries. Materials available in multiple languages.
All social media posts should link to the Washington County battery disposal webpage.
Resources to help promote the food scraps drop-off program in Washington County.
Image files that can be used for educational print materials like brochures, flyers or recycling guides, or for use on community websites. To save a photo from our photo gallery, right click on the photo and select "Save picture as".
Curbside Recycling
- 6X9 single sort recycling sticker
- Flattened cardboard
- Newspaper and magazines
- Mail, office and school papers
- Food packaging
- Phonebooks
- Cartons 1
- Cartons 2
- Cans, glass and plastic
- Glass, bottles and jars
- Plastic containers and to-go packaging
- Plastics #1-2-5
Compostable Materials
Washington County Environmental Center
Additional Resources
- Learning Kits to help educators teach about composting, recycling, and trash
- BizRecycling
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
- Recycling Association of Minnesota