Recycling & Trash Services

The A to Z Recycling and Disposal Guide tells you how to safely get rid of any item from your home. Contact your city to ask about dropping off items at an upcoming city clean-up event.

The County Environmental Charge (CEC) is a fee on your trash bill that is based on the size of your trash cart. The current county environmental charge rate for households is 28%. The purpose of the CEC is to provide an incentive to reduce waste and recycle more.

A large portion of the funding provided by the CEC pays for waste handling at the Ramsey/Washington County Resource Recovery Facility, where most of the garbage from Ramsey County is delivered and processed into fuel for generating electricity in Minnesota. The county environmental charge also pays for Ramsey County’s household hazardous waste and yard waste collection programs.

State law requires the company that collects your trash to tell you where it goes. The company will send you a letter with this information once per year. If you don’t remember receiving it, you can call to ask for a copy. You as the customer have a legal right to determine where your trash goes, unless you sign a contract with your trash collection company stating otherwise.

Most trash collected in Ramsey County goes to the Ramsey/Washington Resource Recovery Facility, where it’s processed into fuel for generating electricity in Minnesota. Some collection companies also deliver household trash to landfills.