Farmington Feed: Greening your Holidays
This is the Farmington Feed, bringing you information from the city of Farmington.
Caryn:Hi, and welcome back to the Farmington Feed. I'm Caryn Hojnicki, the city's communications specialist, and I'm hungry for another episode of the Feed. The holidays are a time of excitement and stress for many. So how do we keep up with the current trends, the craziness of the season, and considering the environment and our choices?
Caryn:I have with me today Violet Penman, our solid waste and recycling coordinator. Hello, and welcome back.
Caryn:Hi. Thanks for having me again.
Caryn:Great. So for listeners that didn't catch you on a previous episode because you've been on a couple, can you tell us a little bit about your position and your background?
Violet:Yeah. So as Caryn mentioned, I'm the solid waste and recycling coordinator for the city of Farmington. I also work with the city of Rosemount and the city of Hastings as well. So you may have seen me running around kind of east half of Dakota County, working with multifamily properties, residents. You may have seen me at the Dew Run.
Violet:I was at Dew Days a couple years ago trying to help make sure that everything is going in the right bin, whether that be trash, recycling, or even organics or food scraps. So that's kind of my job, and I like to raise education, raise awareness with residents about what bin it goes in and how to recycle right.
Caryn:Awesome. Well, thank you again for joining us today, and it's a great opportunity so we can talk to the community on ways they can waste less over the holidays. I know I have some ideas and some things that I've done in my own time, but, you know, there are so many things that I'm not even thinking of. One of the things I came across was this normalizing giving secondhand gifts. Have you ever done it?
Violet:I have. Yeah. I love to give secondhand gifts, and I am definitely on the path myself of trying to make sure that everything's secondhand. So a lot of my clothes now, I try and buy it all secondhand. There's lots of great thrift stores around here where you can get toys secondhand.
Violet:Just because it's not in a plastic package doesn't mean that it's not a real gift for your child or friend or family members. So lots of people love things that have been pre loved, as we say, pre worn.
Caryn:Yeah.
Violet:Sometimes that's even better. I've had people who love certain, like, Blundstone boots, and they buy them pre worn because they think that that just fits better with their feet.
Caryn:Okay.
Violet:So some people really love that sort of gift. Toys, pre used toys, puzzles, books. Mhmm. I love those sort of gifts.
Violet:So just because it's used doesn't mean it's bad.
Caryn:Right. So, you know, some of these parents are cleaning out their closets or the kids' closets with all the toys and the bins and all that. So if they're not giving them as a secondhand gift, what are some other options they have of getting rid of some of that, making space for some new stuff?
Violet:Yeah. So the Minnesota Toy Library, or maybe it's the Minneapolis Toy Library. Oh. There's a toy library up in the cities that I would definitely recommend checking out. You can give stuff to them, donate your secondhand toys.
Violet:You can also take stuff or, like, check it out, so to speak. So it's the same thing as a library
Caryn:Mhmm.
Violet:Where you would check out a book, but instead it's a toy. And they have so many toys that your child can pick from and choose, And then they're all kind of new new to your child, so to speak. So when they get tired with their Barbie, they can go back a couple weeks later and go get a toy train instead.
Violet:So
Caryn:Oh, yeah. That's awesome.
Violet:It's a super great I know the kids love it because it's all a new experience for them, something new to play with. Also, our thrift stores are great options too. I know Farmington doesn't have a whole lot of thrift stores, but the surrounding area, Lakeville, Rosemount, Hastings has a great little thrift store downtown.
Violet:So those areas are also great places to get rid of your used toys and try something new for your child.
Caryn:Oh, yeah. For sure. I know, like, there's so many toys that are sitting in bins or drawers or on shelves that aren't getting played with at home. Like, we just looked at all our Legos.
Violet:The Lego.
Caryn:The amount of Legos. Now I know that Legos have a take back program of some sort. Do you know anything about that?
Violet:You know, I had a coworker in Rosemount who her kid kinda grew outgrew Legos, and you can sell them back. I believe I believe the store is in Apple Valley or Eagan. Okay. And you can sell them back, and then you get, like, an in store credit for more Legos, or I think they'll actually pay you. I'm not a 100% sure about that.
Caryn:Yeah. That sounds right. Like, it was like you get more money if you get a Lego gift card, and and you get less if you get a regular gift card or something.
Violet:Exactly. Yeah. You're not you'll get the $1 to 65ยข or whatever it is to gift card versus actual money. So
Caryn:Yeah. And I'm but I'm also sure that that toy library would take those Legos. Right?
Violet:I'm sure they would. Yeah. I would check online. I'm sure that they have they do have some sort of quality standards. So they want, like, broken Legos or something like that.
Violet:Same with broken toys, but, yeah, great option for kids.
Caryn:Yeah. I might have to think about that, for sure. They have a ton of Legos, and they haven't played with them. They're collecting dust.
Violet:I know. I've heard that Lego store is quite popular.
Caryn:We're talking about gifts. We're talking about secondhand. What about the wrapping paper or other options aside from wrapping paper?
Violet:Yeah. Yeah. So wrapping paper is one of those things that people think is recyclable, but it's, I would say 98% of the time not. Right. Just because it usually has glitter plastic layers that you don't necessarily see hidden plastic.
Caryn:Mhmm.
Violet:And it's usually also from poor quality paper.
Caryn:Oh, for sure.
Violet:So just like you can't recycle your napkins or your Kleenex tissues, you can't recycle wrapping paper because it's really low quality. So instead of that, I always used to I used to use the Dakota County Tribune for all my wrapping.
Caryn:That's funny. I actually was collecting it last year to wrap mine
Violet:as well. I'm the weird person at work that says, hey, can I keep that after you're done with it? And they ask why, and I say, I'm gonna wrap all my presents with it.
Caryn:Right. Well, actually, my grandmother used to do that.
Violet:Yeah.
Caryn:It's She wraps with newspaper, and I was like, well, okay.
Violet:I think it looks kinda cute and old fashioned, and it's like that kind of vintage look, which I think is really cute. I'm the newspaper person. Mhmm. I've also used butcher paper, like brown butcher paper.
Caryn:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Violet:That's a little bit thicker if you're looking for it. Sometimes the newspaper snaps pretty easy. But, the brown butcher paper is great. I've seen people do really cute things with like, music sheets and old maps and stuff where yeah. They make it look so cool.
Violet:I'm not quite that great at wrapping stuff. I've also seen I can't remember the name for it. It's a Japanese technique where you wrap with fabric instead of paper.
Caryn:Oh.
Violet:So it's almost like origami tying it in a way.
Caryn:I was gonna say, how does it stay together?
Violet:You tie it, basically. Okay. So it's almost like these beautiful little baskets that people make. I'm, again, not that creative or able I'm not I don't have the fine motor skills for this. Yeah.
Caryn:It seems a little
Violet:It's a little hard, but some people can make it look beautiful. And on that note, you know, thrift store baskets are great for, like, a hostess gift to put your wine bottle in or whatever. So, yeah, anything that can be reused, anything that can be recycled, and again, the wrapping paper usually can't be, so keep an eye out for that.
Caryn:Okay. I'm gonna have to look up how to tie a wrapping when I'm wrapping a gift.
Violet:I tried a couple years ago, and it just fell apart. So not for me. But
Caryn:Yeah. Because I bet my kids wouldn't try to get into it because they wouldn't know how to tie back together. Right? To cheat.
Violet:They can't reseal the envelope. Yeah.
Caryn:Another thing during the holidays is leftovers or food scraps, if you will. What should we do about that?
Violet:Yeah. So I'm a big advocate. I don't care if you're that weird person that brings Tupperware to your dinner party or whatever. I think usually people are just happy to get rid of all the extras. And then you have lunch the next day.
Violet:So I'm all about that. There's so many great recipes on Pinterest or even just look online for leftover turkey, leftover ham, leftover vegetables. That's all sorts of great fun stuff that you can do. There's also and I can't remember. It's a meal prep kind of guide online where you can type in how many people you're gonna have at your party, what about you think you're gonna serve, if you want any leftovers or if you don't.
Violet:And it'll kinda calculate for you about how much you need. So like one ounce of this or one loaf of bread or etcetera, etcetera, to make sure you do or don't have leftovers.
Caryn:Okay. Well, we're going to need to find that one.
Violet:I know. I'm just
Caryn:For my husband, He just said it the other day. He's like, I always make too much food.
Caryn:And I was like, you're right. And then we don't want to eat it all because we're tired of eating it. Yeah.
Violet:You can only eat that for how many weeks. Yeah. I've got to find that. Or there's
Caryn:some stuff you could probably freeze, right? There's some food to think about that ahead of time too. Yep.
Violet:And some foods definitely freeze better than others. Most of your traditional Midwest holiday stuff is going to freeze pretty well. So I'm all about freezing and, you know, when you're craving that
Violet:Pulling them out again later.
Violet:Yeah. Come February, you can just pull that out.
Caryn:Mhmm. For sure. I know people also say they want to start collecting food scraps and food waste, but it grosses them out. What's your advice for that?
Violet:Yeah. I I get it. It's it's a new experience for people. But once you do it, you realize that it's it's no different than throwing it in your trash. I mean, I always tell people, you're not buying an apple to cut the apple up and throw it in your food scraps.
Violet:You already have that apple. Mhmm. And you would just be throwing that core into your trash instead. Right. So in a way, I feel like for me, it's more hygienic.
Violet:We have talked about putting your food scrap bin in the fridge or the freezer. I opt for the freezer. I think that's super awesome because if I am, I kind of go back to my hometown for the holidays and I'm not there. Mhmm. And I don't have to worry about if I have some coffee grounds in there, they're not gonna start smelling or get fruit flies or
Caryn:Yeah, the fruit flies.
Violet:What the fruit flies are I got fruit flies were really bad 1 year and I'm pretty hygienic about it. So understand people have that issue and the freezer gets rid of the fruit flies. They don't like those cold temperatures.
Caryn:Right. They're not gonna be there. They're gonna die.
Violet:Yeah. And it just it's kind of amazing when you pull stuff out of the freezer. Like, I'll put
Violet:a plant leaf in there and it will look more or less the same 2 2 weeks later. It just kind of stops all decomposition. Yeah. Doesn't hurt the food scraps. They would be frozen if you threw them out there in January anyways because it's under freezing temperatures outside.
Violet:So Yeah. Yeah, I find that a great option.
Caryn:So let's remind our listeners about how how that program works.
Violet:Yeah. Yeah. So Dakota County has partnered with a lot of the Dakota County cities, including Farmington, to offer a free residential food scraps drop off program. Mhmm. And so that food scraps drop off, there's a food scrap drop off dumpster where you can collect your, food scraps and then bring it to this dumpster.
Violet:And you don't have to worry about, like, throwing it out your backyard or whatever. So that dumpster is located up by the maintenance facility, kind of by the North water tower at the police department area. It's totally free to use. You we recommend that you sign up online
Caryn:Mhmm.
Violet:Just because then you get the little goodie bag that comes with it, the free compostable bags.
Violet:You get a little list of what's accepted and what's what's not accepted. Mhmm. So you can just go to Dakota County and search organics drop off.
Caryn:Yep.
Violet:And you'll be able to find that.
Violet:And then you just start collecting. They give you the free certified compostable bags and those bags are really important because they're not a plastic bag. They have been found to break down in the waste stream, in that food scrap stream. So you can't use a plastic bag. You can use a brown paper bag.
Violet:I know a lot of people like that for like corn husks and stuff in the summer. You can use that. But, and then you bring it to the drop off-site, the food scraps drop off-site. And then we have the green paint green compostable bags there for you to grab more. So you can just grab more and start the process over.
Violet:It's super easy, totally free whenever you want to do it.
Caryn:Yeah, it is easy. Just you need to kind of work it into your schedule of when you need to drop them off. Right?
Violet:Yeah. And that's a great thing about freezing. You know, sometimes I'm like, Oh, I just don't have time this week. And I let it kind of hang out in my freezer, and it's not gonna go bad. So I'm all about that.
Caryn:Yeah. I feel like, a family of 5, which is mine, that that fills up really quickly.
Violet:Yeah. And for me, it's just me. So the kind of difference, some people, you know, bring it religiously every single day. Some people don't.
Caryn:So Yeah. And again, it's super easy, like you said. And basically, it's any food prep waste, right, and all your leftover food that you're not gonna eat. The one important thing I did notice happened before and can be a problem is people trying to bring yard waste there, which is not okay.
Violet:Yeah. And people are I mean, you guys have the right idea. Yard waste is, it will break down. It is compostable. We can't have it in that food scraps bin Mhmm.
Violet:Because the composters over at SET and Empire is where it goes. They have a really specific, almost recipe, so to speak, of that dry stuff, which is your yard waste, to wet stuff, which is the food scraps. Mhmm. And they don't want you to mix it. It kinda screws up their recipe.
Violet:It's almost like baking in a way.
Caryn:Yeah.
Violet:You don't wanna screw up that recipe. Yep. So Yeah.
Caryn:There's a reason why they say no no yard waste there.
Violet:Yeah. It's not to be annoying. There is a reason behind it.
Caryn:Well, anything else, Violet, that we didn't cover that you could suggest to green your holidays this season?
Violet:I would say the biggest thing for me, I know I'm trying to kind of move to this area is gifting an experience, if you can.
Caryn:Yes.
Violet:I think that's a super awesome thing to do. I think a lot of people love that. So instead of gifting an item, you gift an experience, whether that be a gift card or like a punch card or whatever to, let's say, Spotty or tickets to a Twins game or even like, hey, let's have a girls' night to MOA or something.
Violet:And you can plan that, and it's a lot of fun. And that, of course, helps reduce consumption, helps reduce the packaging waste associated with a lot of traditional toys and gifts and stuff. And it's a great option for those hard to buy for people. I think we always have those people on our list when you're like, what do you do? I think everyone will appreciate a spa day or like a Twins game or something or a golf outing, whoever that person is.
Caryn:I mean, I'd enjoy a Twins game if they were playing the Tigers because that's my team. But, yeah.
Violet:I'll always go for a spa day.
Caryn:Yes. Those are always welcome. I actually do that with my kids and going to birthday parties. I don't give those parents more toys in their house.
Caryn:I refuse because I don't want them. I have my kid make them a nice card, and I let the parent know, like, hey, we don't buy gifts. We just do a private, like, hangout time, like, whether it be go to the movies or go bowling or just do arts and crafts at our house. And then that way, the kid gets a special experience with the birthday person who they don't really get to hang out with, like, personally at the party because there's so many people.
Violet:A lot of kids.
Caryn:Yeah. Yeah. And then they have their own time to hang out with that friend. And I just like that.
Violet:That's so cute.
Caryn:Yeah. So I've been really conscious of doing that since my kids were little. But yeah, thinking about doing that for Christmas is another great idea too.
Violet:Yeah. Some people are really excited about that. So good option for your hard to buy for.
Caryn:Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming today and talking about this green topic that I really love. But, hey, Farmington. Let's challenge you to consider one green swap this season. Before I wrap up though, remember, you can take your broken holiday lights to city hall and Farmington Liquors for recycling until Friday, January 31st.
Caryn:Also coming up is the Christmas tree pickup.
Violet:Yes.
Caryn:Violet, can you tell our listeners a little bit about that process?
Violet:Yeah. So, of course, all Farmington residents here have DSI through our contract. DSI does offer Christmas tree pickup, which is super nice. So if you're currently enrolled in yard waste services with DSI, that pickup is free of charge. If you don't currently have yard waste services, there will be a fee, but you do get a little bit of a discount as a Farmington resident.
Caryn:Okay.
Violet:And you do need to schedule that online. Coming in December, there will be a schedule my Christmas tree icon. When you go to the Dick's Sanitation website, through there, you can just kind of quick, easy do it online, schedule a pickup time, throw it on on your curb, they'll come pick it out. You can also call them if you don't have Internet access, and the pickups will take place the week of January 6th and January 13th.
Caryn:Okay. Perfect.
Violet:So keep a lookout for that.
Caryn:The first two full weeks of January.
Caryn:Okay. Alright. Well, that concludes this month's episode of The Farmington Feed. Thank you for listening. We look forward to connecting with residents with this podcast.
Caryn:If you have any feedback, guest requests, or ideas, email me at Communications@FarmingtonMN.gov. Don't forget to subscribe to the Farmington Feed wherever you like to get your podcasts.
