Eagan Parks To Adopt 'Pack-In, Pack-Out' Program

EAGAN, MN— The city of Eagan announced it will adopt a "Pack-In, Pack-Out" program in 13 smaller neighborhood parks.

This program will remove 11 trashcans and add recycling bins to 13 parks in Eagan, in order to comply with Dakota County's new ordinance (110), the city said.

The ordinance aims to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, improve the quality of materials being recycled, and to make progress toward Minnesota's goal of recycling 75 percent of waste by 2030, the city said.

The parks that will be part of the program are:

• Beecher Park
• Berry Patch Park
• Cinnamon Ridge Park
• Evergreen Park
• Hidden Corner Park
• Highview Park
• Lakeside Park
• Lexington Park
• Peridot Path Park
• River Hills Park
• Slater Acres Park
• South Oaks Park
• Walden Heights Park
• Wescott Station Park

“The goals of the program are great and fall in line with Eagan’s values; but they also created a mandate for the City to have recycling bins wherever a trash bin is provided," Eagan’s Director of Parks & Recreation, Andrew Pimental said. "While this seems simple at first blush, there are several significant operational impacts including the cost of a recycling bin next to every garbage bin (over 225 of them) in Eagan would be about $100,000. We would also have to purchase an additional trash/recycling truck to pick up the recycling which would cost an additional $125,000. And the City would have on-going costs for maintaining the bins, vehicle costs, disposal, and additional staff time. We take that $250,000 or more budget impact very seriously."