Curbside recycling is reducing the trash going into Minot’s landfill, but more can be done, according to an update on the recycling program provided to the Minot City Council Monday.

“We’re capturing about 38.6 percent of our program recyclables. So, it’s definitely lower than we’d like to see, but it gives us an idea of where we are,” interim Public Works Director Jason Sorenson said. “We’re capturing about 69 percent of corrugated cardboard, just under 50 percent of recycled paper and only 25 percent of containers.”

Curbside recycling, launched last July, has about an 80% participation rate, with 20% of households withdrawing during the opt-out period that ended last October. Looking deeper into the data, Sorenson said, about 65% of people who have a cart set it out every collection period.

“We have pretty good participation, a lot of interest in the program,” he said.

As part of a grant received for the recycling program, a consultant was commissioned to conduct a composition study on city garbage. Taking samples of the recyclables, it was found about 62% of the recycling stream is paper and cardboard and 20% is containers, such as plastic bottles and steel, tin and aluminum cans. About 17% of the material was contaminants, or items that can’t be recycled. Sorenson said that percentage was elevated during the sample period because of wet paper products caused by weather conditions.

Looking at regular trash going into the landfill, about 20% of that content could have been recycled and about 33% was compostable material, Sorenson said.

The city’s next steps are to increase recycling education in the community, reduce the presence of contaminants in recyclables, increase capture rates and increase residential participation, he said. Information also has been distributed to area communities that deposit their garbage in Minot’s landfill to let them know of the recycling option.

On the commercial side, the city isn’t set up to do commercial recycling collection, and commercial haulers aren’t interested in providing the service at this time, Sorenson said.

The city’s largest costs associated with recycling are the processing fee, currently about $77 a ton, and transportation, at $140 a ton. The city’s rebate, which is based on the market value of the recyclables, averaged $57.23 in the first six months of the program but now is around $90.

“We’re trying to manage the cost,” Sorenson said, “and make it as cost effective a program as possible, and I think we are getting really close.”