About

BizRecycling Story

BizRecycling is a public program of Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy (R&E). Through R&E, Ramsey and Washington counties have worked together to manage waste responsibly since the 1980s. The two counties strive to protect health and the environment and meet the state’s 75% recycling goal.

BizRecycling launched in 2013 to help businesses start and improve organics (food waste) collections. Over time, BizRecycling expanded to support waste reduction and recycling efforts. In 2019, residential apartment buildings became eligible for technical assistance and grants. Since our start, we’ve reached over 4,000 local businesses with information, customized improvement plans and grant funding. Over $6 million dollars in grants have been invested into local businesses to help them manage their waste in an environmentally preferred manner. These community investments have resulted in 399 businesses starting to collect organics, 402 starting to collect recycling and 1,000 businesses making improvements to existing waste management systems. With our help, these businesses are diverting a combined 14 million pounds of waste (that’s about 500 garbage trucks) from the trash every year.

Grants

Waste Reduction & Innovation Grants: Up to $50,000 for eligible businesses, schools, and colleges to reduce waste through reuse, technology enhancements or production redesign.

Food Recovery Grants:  Up to $20,000 for eligible food businesses, food shelves and farmers markets to recover surplus edible food to distribute to people in need.

Recycling Grants:  Up to $10,000 for eligible businesses and up to $20,000 for eligible apartment buildings to improve recycling and food waste collection.

Bin-Only Grants:  Helps small businesses kickstart or improve recycling and organics collection with up to $2,500 in trash, recycling and organics bins and equipment.

Organics Reward:  Up to $5,000 reimbursement of hauling costs for businesses who improve their food scraps collections.

There is no minimum grant award. No matching funds are required.

How It Works

Free Consultation.
Complete a basic site visit with one of our Recycling Experts and receive your customized waste reduction and recycling plan.

Recycle Better.
Our Recycling Experts will help you set up your new system and provide ongoing support as long as needed to ensure your business recycling success. You can always count on us!

Brewing up big savings with BizRecycling.

3rd Act Brewery in Woodbury opened its doors in 2018. Owner Steve Long was approached about the BizRecycling program as he was completing construction and thought it was a no-brainer.

Through the BizRecycling program, 3rd Act Brewery obtained all the trash and recycling receptacles they needed to open to the public as well as several containers to collect spent grain from the brewing process. The brewery then set up a relationship with a local farmer to collect the grain on a weekly basis to turn into livestock feed. This partnership allows 3rd Act Brewery to divert about 1,000 pounds per week of spent grain from their trash, saving them space in the dumpster and money on their bill. The brewery is also diverting recyclable waste from the landfill, and staff and customers are supportive of their recycling program.

Steve recommends the BizRecycling program to any business, but especially to new businesses as it can help get them the items they need to set up successful recycling without breaking the bank.