Organics Recycling Facility Opening Soon

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community is opening a $4.5 million organics recycling facility later this summer.

Situated on tribal land, the site will be west of McKenna Road, south of County Road 16 and east of County Road 83—the primary access point to the facility. The center will service Prior Lake and Savage, with a Shakopee partnership pending.

No specific date is set for the opening but, once open, the center's hours will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

The recycling facility will primarily serve commercial haulers but also be open to local residents who wish to dispose of organic materials such as leaves, grass, brush, straw and food waste. The center won't accept root wads, tree stumps or branches larger than eight inches in diameter, building lumber, soil or compost materials in plastic bags of any type.

The facility, on 17 acres, will have scales for weighing trucks and measuring waste, and an attendant will help dispose of various material. Materials are brought into the site are dumped, ground, shredded, and mixed and then put into composting containers 20 feet wide by 10 feet tall. The material will be turned about once every three days. In about 12 weeks, those materials will be fully composted, screened and available for sale out of the facility.

Officials are working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the leadup to the center's opening.

Composting is basically grinding waste into small particles and using microorganisms to do all the work. "It's the same process where you take a bunch of leaves and pile them in one portion of your lawn and they break down," said Michael Whitt, Natural Resource Manager with the Tribal Land Department.

Revenues from tribal enterprises, including gaming, paid for the facility, and Whitt expects the facility to earn back its investment within five years.

Whitt sees an economic incentive to prospective clients, encouraging nearby businesses to dispose their waste at the organics recycling facility rather than driving to facilities further away.

“That’s saving a lot of diesel fuel, when garbage trucks get four miles to the gallon,” Whitt said.

Finished compost will be available for sale at $12 a cubic yard by calling the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Land Department at (952) 496-6136.

Over the next few months, the tribe will phase out the current recycling site, at the corner of County Roads 42 and 83.

Northwest Asphalt of Shakopee was chosen as the contractor for the new facility. The company’s previous projects include the new amphitheater at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel.