National and RAM Bin Grants Awarded: 
The 2015 RAM John Mattala Bin Grant award winners announced.
The Recycling Association of Minnesota is very pleased to announce the 2015 winners of RAM’s annual John Maattala Bin Grant program. While the Bin Grant committee was pleased to see many very worthwhile and deserving requests, unfortunately the supply did not quite meet the demand. Although RAM was not able to award bins to all of the applicants as requested, efforts were made to award at least a part of the request to allow these deserving efforts to increase recycling to move forward.
This year’s winners are:
Carver County – 5 Message in a Bottle bins
The bins will be used at the Carver County Fairgrounds to provide additional opportunities for recycling at events such as the Carver County Fair, Taste of MN, Waconia Rodeo, etc. where over 150,000 individuals are estimated to attend the events throughout the year. Bin contents will be emptied and sorted for recycling by area Vocational Center, ATHC.
Lac Qui Parle County – 2 Message in a Bottle Bins
The bins, which will be given to the Dawson/Boyd Baseball Association (DBBA), will be placed at the Dawson Baseball field in a strategically visible location right in front of the stands and near the garbage cans, so that public can see the recycling option verses tossing as garbage. This location is also where the estimated 5550 people in attendance over the course of the summer, must pass to either to enter or leave. The Baseball Association Board Members will be responsible for emptying the bins and documenting the totals collected. When emptied, the discarded containers will be taken to the local recycler and the cans sold with the proceeds going to the Baseball Association to be used for improvements to the field, stands, etc. The Softballs fields are also close by and the bins could be brought to those fields when not used during baseball games. In addition, the city of Dawson will make use of the bins at several community events held during the summer.
Blaine’s National Sports Center – 8 Message in a Bottle Bins
Victory Links Golf Course at the National Sports Center (NSC) has a concession stand on site, which generates a high rate of glass, metal, and plastic beer, soda, and water bottles.
Currently there is only one 9 gallon trash can at each hole which requires emptying at least twice a day. Over 75% of the material placed in the trash cans is recyclable. Having a clearly marked 35 gallon recycle bin at each hole will not only capture recyclable material, but has the potential to create less work for the golf course marshals by limiting the amount of times they would have to empty the course bins.
During the first two weeks of the new bin arrival, monitoring and weighing the bags after each collection period will occur. That data will be used as a set point. After that, the first full week of every month will be used to weigh the collection of the material. This data will be collected and sent to RAM, either monthly or at the end of each golf season.
Brotex – 5 Message in a Bottle Bins
As part of the company’s plan to increase recycling at its facility with their 95 employees, they will use the bins in their lunch rooms, hallways and other high traffic areas. Weights of recyclables deposited in the bins will be tabulated weekly.
Steele County – 7 Clearstream recycling stands
These bins will help Steele County to augment its program to collect mixed recyclables at downtown events where other types of recycling bins are not workable. The fact that these bins can easily be stored away when not in use is a big plus to their program. Bins will be put into service at 20 different gatherings ranging in size from small ones serving under 200 people to those serving several thousand at a busy event.
Western Lakes Superior Sanitary District– 5 Clearstream recycling stands
In an effort to target smaller waste free events, where larger stands can be onerous,
the 2-parters will be a very useful addition to their reservation-driven program that sends out kits to individuals and organizations on a weekly basis, year-round, for waste-free weddings, parties, fundraisers, and community festivals
WLSSD’s waste free events kits are used annually at the Empty Bowl benefit which
serves more than 2000 attendees in a single, sit-down feeding event. This event, in particular, has a busy beverage prep area that generates both food waste and recycling in a tiny space. The two part kit will work perfectly to collect the materials. They encounter similar needs at various events where a small footprint waste station would serve the need far better than the full-sized 2 frame set-up. With smaller events using the smaller scale double collection bins, the full-sized bin resources would be freed up for concurrent events. Summer weddings tax our kit resources; many time the kits go out on the same day that they are returned. Having these additional double bins would expand our ability to serve more customers.
City of Chanhassen- 8 Clearstream recycling stands
Bins will be used to collect beverage containers and organics at all community events. Organizations will be allowed to borrow bins for other community events. They currently loan existing bins to scout troops, event organizers, and schools, but would like to have more bins since summer event requests sometime overlap.
Bins will be stored at the City Park Maintenance Building. Bins will be delivered and placed appropriately at event locations by City employees. Distribution will be decided on a case by case basis when being used for non-City staffed events: users will either pick up the bins, or an arrangement can be made for the City to assist at the event and deliver the bins and other educational materials to the event.
