Submitted Photo A collection truck dumps recyclables at the recycling center at the Minot city landfill. Photo from the City of Minot.

Minot’s recyclables will begin going to a new processing facility later this summer.

The Minot City Council decided Monday, June 15, to discontinue hauling to Dem-Con Materials Recovery in Shakopee, Minnesota, when the current three-year contract expires in July. Instead, the city sees potential to save money by redirecting recyclables to the Recycling Center of North Dakota (Recycle North Dakota) in Jamestown.

According to a memo from the Public Works Department, Demo-Con is a third generation company that first contracted with the city in July 2023.

“They are a known quantity to the City of Minot and have done an excellent job processing and marketing our materials,” Public Works Utilities Director Jason Sorenson said in the memo. Dem-Con proposed a processing fee of $90 a ton and a rebate of 80% of the average commodity rebate.

Recycle North Dakota began operations in 2017 and didn’t have the capacity in 2023 to take Minot’s materials, Sorenson said. Since then, it has automated and increased its capacity. It proposed a processing fee of $85 and a rebate of 70% of the average commodity rebate.

The memo also stated the city owns its own compactor trailers but hires a third party to haul the trailers to Shakopee. Given the shorter haul distance to Jamestown – 340 miles compared to 1,000 miles – city staff recommend the council consider having the city do its own hauling.

The current third party hauler will charge about $76,700 a year, based on 65 loads. Staff determined the hauling could be accomplished in-house for about $46,750 a year, for an annual savings of about $30,000.

Staff suggested buying a used truck for hauling recyclables by reallocating $80,000 in unused funds in the landfill budget.

Council member Mike Blessum cautioned that in-house hauling will require additional work for staff and could take away from other work being done. Sorenson responded the city could continue to use its current contractor, which would still be a cost savings due to the shorter distance. Meanwhile, the city could continue looking into whether the in-house option might be feasible, he said. He added employees have extra time in the winter for trucking recyclables.

The council’s motion included only switching contractors. Hauling options are to be addressed at a later time.

At 1,100 tons a year, the city estimates the cost of processing under the new contract at $93,500. The expected rebate at the current market rate of $120 a ton is $92,400. The Public Works Department noted recycling markets are cyclical, though, so the difference between rebates and actual costs can vary going forward.

Earlier this month the council made another switch, voting to contract with a new service provider for its waste collection technology. When the city converted to automation in 2017, it contracted with Fleetmind, which submitted the only proposal.

More recently, according to a city staff memo, Fleetmind has been through multiple ownership changes, and technical issues with the system have risen to the point of required weekly progress meetings to discuss the status of more than 40 service issues.

Staff began searching for an alternate vendor for 2027, but constant issues prompted a call for action this year. Routeware was determined to be the only other suitable vendor.

With $28,442 remaining in the budget, the city council voted June 1 to spend an additional $34,000 to cover the hardware, services and the difference in subscription cost to switch to Routeware.