Apple Valley, MN Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

The organics rule sits in Chapter 50 of the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances, in the required-collection section, § 50.03(C). The Apple Valley City Council wrote the division to state that, in compliance with Dakota County Ordinance No. 110, entitled "Solid Waste Management," adopted November 26, 2019 by the Dakota County Board of Commissioners, the requirements apply within the city. The city text does not define its own terms. Division (C)(1) says words such as organics, designated list of organics, and large event venue with organics carry the meanings given in the county ordinance, so the county text decides which venues are covered.

For a covered large event venue, the property owner, manager, or event sponsor must provide a collection schedule and containers adequate to meet the division, with container locations in indoor and outdoor locations, public spaces, private spaces, and communal spaces. Every trash collection container or chute must be co-located within 10 feet from a recycling container or chute, and each must have equal access. Under (C)(3)(d), trash, recyclables, and organics containers must be labeled consistent with the Dakota County Environmental Resources Department's solid waste abatement messaging: the term "organics", images of acceptable materials, color coding of blue for recycling, green for organics, and gray or black for trash, visible and legible marking, and preparation instructions where applicable. Under (C)(3)(e), organics must be delivered for food recovery or to a composting facility or anaerobic digester.

Division (C)(3)(f) adds a paper trail. The owner or sponsor must give documented solid waste abatement messaging, in print or electronic form, to each employee, tenant, multi-unit resident, student, volunteer, and housekeeping and custodial contractor. That messaging must occur at least annually, within 30 days of any substantive change to the generator's waste program, and within 30 days of a new hire or new tenant.

Multi-unit residential buildings that manage municipal solid waste through a common contract have a related duty in (C)(2): recycling containers with a weekly service capacity of at least 0.1 cubic yards per dwelling unit, and a collection schedule and container capacity sufficient for the recyclables and for organics (if collected), which is the code's own parenthetical wording.