Recycling
Thank you for recycling, your participation does make a difference! In 2007, Minnetonka residents recycled 6,032 tons of recyclables.
The city of Minnetonka provides each residence with a recycling container. The container must remain with the property when ownership or occupants change.
Minnetonka Curbside Recycling Program
The city of Minnetonka contracts with Waste Management Inc.—Savage for curbside recycling collection and operation of the Recycling Drop-off Center.
Curbside collection is every week. Recycling collection is on Mondays if you live west of I-494 and collection is on Tuesdays if you live east of I-494.
Your recycling container should be at the street by 7 a.m. or the night before if that is more convenient for your household. The recycling truck will be by sometime during the day.
Every home is charged $2.50 per month for recycling services, billed on the water/utility bill.
Recycling Collection Day
Recycling collection day for residents west of I-494 is on Mondays and on Tuesdays for those east of I-494. Recycling must be set at the end of your driveway by 7 a.m. on collection day and no sooner than the night before (they must be stored out of public view at all other times. If your recyclables were at the curb by 7 a.m. but were not collected, call 952.939.8202 by noon on the following day. If you reach voice-mail, please include your address in the message, and leave your recyclables out at the curb.
Late Set-out
Recycling materials should be set out at your curb before 7 a.m. or the night before your pickup day.
If your recycling is set out before 7 a.m. and not collected by 6 p.m., please call the Minnetonka Recycling Coordinator by noon the following day. You may leave a message on the 24-hour recycling hotline, 952.939.8202, or call 952.988.8430 during business hours.
If you have questions about recycling, please contact the Recycling Coordinator, Dean Elstad, 952.939.8430.
Holiday Collection
There are five holidays that delay curbside recycling collection by one day if they fall on a Monday or Tuesday: Memorial Day, Labor Day, Independence Day, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
No other holidays change recycling.
Storage of recycling and garbage containers
Your garbage and recycling container must be stored out of public view except for the evening before and the day of collection (City of Minnetonka Ordinance Number 835.015.7).
Recycling Drop-off Center
Minnetonka and Hopkins jointly operate a self-service recycling drop-off center which accepts the same items as the curbside program. This center is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round, and is located at the Minnetonka Public Works Facility, 11522 Minnetonka Boulevard. Look for the cream-colored wood sign and enter using the driveway just west of the sign. The green containers are on your right.
Acceptable Materials for Curbside Recycling Collection
Paper Products, including newspaper, miscellaneous paper items and corrugated cardboard: Paper includes the following: - newspaper, including all colored comics and ad supplements
- glossy catalogs and magazines
- direct mail advertising (junk mail)
- bills, receipts and envelopes; school and office paper; hard- and soft-covered books
- telephone directories
- toy, gift, shoe, tissue boxes
- cardboard tubes
- laundry detergent boxes
- beverage carriers (24 pack, 12 pack, 6 pack and 4 pack carriers)
- dry food packaging (cereal, cracker, cake, chip, pasta boxes etc.;
- boxes for office products and electronics
- boxes for toothpaste, medication and other toiletries; extra paper bags, and small pieces of corrugated cardboard
- Containers, including glass bottles and jars, metal cans, foil and foil trays and plastic bottles with a neck: Rinse all containers clean. Discard all plastic caps, tops, lids and pumps. Place containers loose in the recycling container (mixed together) or place into paper grocery bags. Place bags in or next to the recycling container. Only plastic bottles with a neck are accepted. Throw all other plastic items (trays, bags, tubs, caps, covers, lids and pumps) in your garbage.
To prepare boxes, remove all product liners and flatten boxes and place in a paper grocery bag with other paper items. Place the bags in or alongside the recycling container. Set in or along side the recycling container.
Do not include any delivered pizza boxes or any box or packaging that is for products typically stored in the refrigerator or freezer (butter, cream cheese, milk, juice, frozen dinners, ice cream, etc.).
Large corrugated boxes must be flattened and placed next to or under the recycling container. No minimum size is required. Small pieces of cardboard can be placed in the bag with paper products.
Prepare your recyclable materials, keeping the paper products separate from the other recyclable materials. Do not mix the loose paper products and loose containers in the recycling bin.
Cardboard Moving Boxes
After unpacking, an easy way to recycle cardboard boxes is to bring them to the Minnetonka Recycling Drop-off Center located at the Public Works facility—11522 Minnetonka Blvd. The recycling containers are in the southeast corner of the facility, look for the cream colored wood sign. There is no size requirement for cardboard boxes, just flatten the boxes. The self-serve Recycling Drop-off Center is open 24 hours a day, every day.
Call the Recycling Coordinator if you have any questions—952.988.8430.
Telephone Directories
Old telephone directories may be placed in paper grocery bags with other paper products for curbside pickup. Do not use the plastic bag the directories are delivered in, plastic bags are not accepted in the curbside recycling program. Directories are also accepted at the Recycling Drop-off Center. Again, please do not use the plastic bag the directories came in, throw the bag into the garbage or drop-off the plastic bag at Byerly’s, Cub Foods, Lunds, Coopers, or Kowalski’s Markets as part of their plastic bag recycling program. (For more information, visit: www.itsinthebagmn.org). Call the recycling coordinator if you have any questions—952.988.8430.
Unacceptable materials for recycling
The materials accepted in the recycling program are wanted by industry as feedstock to make new items. Contamination by items that are not accepted for recycling is a problem. Placing unacceptable materials in your recycling bin is like throwing a bright red towel in with a load of white laundry—it ruins the whole effect!
The following materials are not accepted for curbside recycling or at the drop-off center. Throw these materials into your garbage!
- all paper milk or juice cartons or boxes.
- all plastic items (bags, toys, tubs, trays, pots, pails, buckets, packaging peanuts, medicine containers, motor oil bottles), except for bottles that come to a neck.
- all ceramics, ceramic liquor bottles, light bulbs, mirrors, window, plate or auto glass, glass or ceramic glasses, plates, bowls or other dishes or glass cookware.
- kitchen and bathroom paper products (food wrap, paper towels, tissues, plates, cups, napkins, coffee filters, etc.)
- gift wrap or wall paper.
- photographs, slides or carbon paper.
- non-corrugated packaging such as pizza boxes, and packaging for all refrigerated or frozen foods (i.e. frozen entrees or waffles, cream cheese or butter boxes, yogurt containers, etc).
- aerosol and paint cans, household scrap metal (pots, pans, etc.).
