Blaine is going to clearly benefit from this and will receive over $134,000 – the second highest payout for any city in the county.
“These funds are going to be used to help divert waste from the landfill,” said Andrew Tortora of Walters Recycling and Refuse. “One of the really key elements to increasing the viability of the waste and recycling infrastructure long term, is insuring that the right waste goes into the right waste streams.”
In the past couple decades recycling has evolved in many ways. As technology advances, so does the knowledge on how to recycle in simple and efficient ways.
“We’ve gone from having those blue bins at the end of your driveway and the consumer sorting those, to now being able to use advanced infrastructure like robotics, optical sorting and different infrastructure pieces,” Tortora said. “The new wave is really now artificial intelligence and how that’s going to be able to assist people in their recycling efforts.”
“When in doubt, throw it out”
Of course one key is educating the public on how to recycle the right way. In Blaine and Anoka County this is an ongoing effort.
“We want to make sure that the residents have all the resources they need to make the best possible decision at their cart so that we can recover and reuse these resources,” Tortora said. “There’s an investment from state down to the counties and even at the city level to increase those educational resources or get them in the hands of the people that are doing the recycling at the local level. That’s the key, changing behavior at the local level to insure the highest rates of recycling and recovery.”
Sometimes recycling is confusing – which is why those in the business have a simple slogan.
“When in doubt, throw it out,” Tortora said.
Other North Metro cities getting money are Centerville, Circle Pines, Ham Lake, Lexington, Lino Lakes and Spring Lake Park.
