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The East Central Solid Waste Commission celebrated the grand opening last week of the Re-use Store, a recycling destination constructed between North Branch and Cambridge.  Before you  search out building materials or any number of unique finds— swing by on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The store is where all the good stuff, rescued from household items disposed of in commission territory, ends up.

The ECSW commission is made up of five counties including Chisago, and its Board oversees the Mora landfill for this region.  The landfill is fed by transfer stations, where haulers consolidate their loads and a state grant funds a reclaiming program based at one of the transfer stations, using personnel hired and supervised by Better Futures MN.

The reclaiming program monies come from the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund, the PCA and LCCMR distributions.

Chisago County solid waste officials are excited to see this become a reality. The state disperses SCORE funds generated by a state tax assessed on waste hauling. SCORE goes out to counties based on tonnage of recyclables and subsidizes expenses for processing the recyclables.  

 With the Better Futures organization involved,  greater volumes of re-usable products and materials are kept out of the landfill and eventually will boost Chisago’s recycling rate.

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