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Yard trimmings composting in Fargo, North Dakota, has been a feature of the city's waste management program since 1989. Using 14 dropoff collection sites throughout the community, city crews collect and transport the waste to a six acre drainage controlled processing site near the city owned landfill.
Residents have embraced the composting program. Since the first pilot study was undertaken in 1989 to the fall of 1993, the total amount of residential waste collected curbside has been reduced 27 percent. Included in this reduction is the recyclables--paper, aluminum and metal cans, glass, and plastics. All these materials are collected at the drop off sites. However, the majority of the reduction can be attributed to the yard trimmings collection and composting program. From May, 1990, to April, 1994, more than 20,000 tons of yard trimmings were processed through the Fargo composting program. Most material was dropped off by Fargo residents, although commercial landscapers and residents of neighboring West Fargo also contributed.
A primary incentive for residents to participate is a local ban on disposal of yard trimmings from May through October. Residents have three options--backyard composting, mulching of grass clippings, or using the dropoff facilities. Trash crews are instructed not to pick up garbage containing yard trimmings. For elderly or disabled, the city provides collection of grass, leaves and brush.
The city opted for a dropoff system for both yard trimmings and recyclables after analyzing methods of collection. A charge was given to the Fargo Public Works Administration to provide this service without substantially raising rates or increasing staff. Since Fargo owns its landfill and has a public collection program which provides a quality service at low cost--a single family residence pays $5.25/month--the challenge of keeping rates and staffing increases to a minimum led to adoption of the dropoff program.
Local print and electronic news stories, a mailing providing details of the programs, and visits to the schools were the educational steps taken to alert the public. In the first four years, the media has occasionally updated the public in the composting effort. Stories have featured city workers turning the waste, focused on illegal dumping (a car transmission was found in a yard waste container), and even reported on a mother mallard duck nesting in a...