Hennepin County taxpayers are subsidizing the cost of organic trash pickup to keep residents’ garbage bills lower and boost a program county leaders say is key to reducing waste.

In March, the County Board approved a four-year extension of a $180,000-a-year subsidy for Minneapolis’ organics program. City officials say they use that money to keep the cost down for residents.

Minneapolis was an early adopter of organics recycling. Starting as a pilot in 2008, such recycling has been available citywide since 2016. It’s so popular that Hennepin County, which is responsible for managing trash disposal after it’s been collected, doesn’t have the capacity to handle the 5,000 tons of organic waste the city creates each year.

Instead, it subsidizes the city’s costs to have that organic waste processed. Other cities get a break, too.

Last year, the county spent $1.2 million managing organics but raised only $650,000 from fees charged to trash haulers that take waste to the Brooklyn Park transfer station. From there, it’s trucked to composting facilities in Shakopee and Dakota County’s Empire Township.

That means taxpayers subsidized just under half the cost, roughly $1 for each of the county’s 535,000 households.

Last year, county residents recycled 18,000 tons of organic material, up about 25% from the previous year. That’s largely due to a 2022 mandate that all cities in Hennepin County offer curbside organics pickup.

If organic material goes to a landfill, it takes up a lot of space, and as it breaks down it releases greenhouse gasses like methane. To avoid that, organics can be broken down at a composting facility or anaerobic digester, where greenhouse gasses can be captured and nutrients used as fertilizers.