Aitkin County plans to improve recycling rates in rural counties

In 2022, Aitkin County residents generated 2.2 tons of recyclables. The county hopes to increase that number with the help of a nearly $92,000 grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which will subsidize the cost of curbside pickup of recyclables outside the city of Aitkin in rural communities.

The state of Minnesota began promoting and encouraging recycling in the early 1990s. Aitkin County received grant money to build its current recycling facility, which was completed in 1991. Then in 2022, grant money was received to bring easier recycling methods to the more rural parts of Aitkin County. To do that, the county has partnered with the company “Recyclops” to develop an “Uber-like” Curbside Pickup Service.

“They hire local people from Aitkin County to go out to a rural area with their own vehicles and pick up recycling for people,” said Andrew Carolstrom, director of Aitkin County Environmental Services. “We started in March 2024 and we were hoping to get 625 customers. Right now we have less than 100, but we were just hoping to get more stuff out of our landfill and encourage people to recycle in rural Minnesota.”

Since 2014, Recyclops has grown to provide recycling services in 19 states in major cities. However, this is the first time the company has ventured into rural areas.

“Aitkin County has about 15,000 residents and we only have to drop off one in McGregor and one here in Aiken,” Carolstrom added. “And so we thought it would be a great opportunity to make it easier and more accessible and bring recycling right to their door and offer that service.

Recyclops uses an app for its services and it is modeled to be similar to Uber-Eats or Door-Dash in how it works. You simply enter your address where the waste can be picked up, then one of Recyclops’ drivers will come and pick it up.

“When I get there, I take a picture of the trash they have out and upload it. If they don’t have any trash out that day, I just take a picture of the end of the driveway and mark it as incomplete, that there’s no trash out, and I move on to the next position,” said Jason Meyer, a Recyclops driver.

The Aitkin County Recycling Curbside Pickup is available in the townships of Aitkin, Farm Island, Nordland and Spencer. You can go to the website Recyclops.com and enter your address to see if your home is in the area they serve.