Food Scraps

Cottage Grove is excited to offer food scraps recycling! You have two ways to recycle food scraps.

You can now recycle food scraps by placing them in a compostable bag and tossing the bag into your regular curb-side trash bin. Compostable bags are available free from Washington County. 

Sign up here

The city has a limited supply of Food Scraps Trial Kits. The Trial Kits include two compostable bags and information on the program. They are available at Cottage Grove City Hall at 12800 Ravine Parkway South.

Food Scraps Trial Kit

The food scraps self-service drop-off site is still available for use behind the Cottage Grove Public Works building at 8635 West Point Douglas Road (see map below). The food scraps collected will be turned into compost. 

How It Works:

  1. Collect your food scraps at home in a compostable bag (i.e. not a plastic bag). Refer to the list accepted items list for more information.
  2. Dispose of the bag at the drop-off site and grab another bag from the dispenser.
Food Scraps Drop Location

More Information:

More than 1/3 of our trash is organic material that can be recycled into compost. Recycling food scraps is an easy way to reduce the amount of trash being sent to landfills. The Cottage Grove food scraps drop-off is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Compostable bags must be used - do not put plastic bags in the City's food scraps dumpster. Compostable bags are available for free at the drop-off site. Please only take one bag per visit.

The Cottage Grove food scraps drop-off program is made possible by a recycling grant from Washington County. For more information on this program and other Washington County programs, please see the Quick Links section.

ACCEPTED ITEMS

  • Fruit and vegetables
  • Meat, fish, and bones
  • Dairy products
  • Eggs and egg shells
  • Bread, pasta, beans, and rice
  • Nuts and shells
  • Coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags
  • Animal and pet food
  • Paper towels, napkins and tissues
  • Pizza delivery boxes
  • Paper egg cartons
  • Dirty paper bags
  • Certified compostable paper and plastic cups, plates, bowls, utensils, and containers
  • Look for the BPI logo to ensure it is compostable

Questions?

Contact Joe Fox, PE, City of Cottage Grove Project Engineer at 651-458-2826 or via email at joefox@cottagegrovemn.gov