Tougas Sanitation in Henning to end garbage service at the end of 2025

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

A new single-sort curbside recycling program has led to a number of questions for both local residents and waste haulers across Otter Tail County. The questions were amplified by several social media posts and the delivery of new blue recycling canisters to residents across Henning and Battle Lake earlier this month. 

The program is part of a multi-year plan to bring single-sort recycling to communities with more-than 500 residents and highly populated lake areas in Otter Tail County. The hope is to increase the amount of items that are recycled in the county and cut down on the amount of waste thrown out by residents. 

Beginning in January, no longer will Henning and Battle Lake residents be required to bring their recyclable materials to one of nearly 30 blue collection bins in the county, but licensed haulers will pick up recyclable materials at their curb. No longer will residents need to sort their recyclable items, yet they will be able to throw every item into one large bin that will be sorted at a recycling facility at a later time. 

“The long-term plan for OTC Solid Waste Department is to try to reduce as much land filling as we can. In order to do that we can get as many people to recycle as possible so that kind of stuff gets taken out of the mainstream,” said Brooks Anderson, recycling manager for Otter Tail County, earlier this year.

The recycling will be picked up at the doorstep of properties at a minimum of every other week, beginning January 1, 2026. Each property owner will receive a free 95 gallon tub to utilize for the recycling program, and thanks to the grant the county received, there will be no cost to property owners for at least 18 months. Should the county not receive additional grant funding after 18 months, the cost could fall back on to property owners to continue the single-sort recycling at their property moving forward.

The new single-sort recycling program is part of an extensive process that the county has developed with input from outside companies, garbage haulers and residents across the county. The program picked up steam in 2022 when Otter Tail County Solid Waste was awarded a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency grant to develop and implement curb side single-sort recycling throughout the county. The county is expecting to increase landfill diversion of recyclable materials by 2,000 tons by transitioning to a county-wide single-sort recycling program. As part of the grant the county opted for a hybrid collection model in which Otter Tail County will require licensed haulers to provide curb side single-sort collection to cities with a population over 500. This would also apply to a list of lake shore areas with high population density.

Otter Tail County Public Information and Education Officer Natalee Yakes said the county has been developing its new Solid Waste Management ordinance since 2022 and it was officially approved by the Otter Tail County Board in 2024. 

In developing the plan for overhauling the waste and adopting a single-sort recycling ordinance, Solid Waste Department Assistant Director Scott Bjerke said the county held several meetings where waste haulers were invited to provide input about the potential change in ordinance.

“There were several meetings that were scheduled and haulers were invited to attend to hear how this might play out and they were welcome to be a part of the discussion and meetings,” he said. “This hasn’t been something that came up in the past year and said we are going to do this.”

As part of the new Solid Waste Management Ordinance, effective January 1, 2026 all waste haulers that collect garbage in Otter Tail County must also make arrangements to collect single-sort recycling where the implementation plan for single-sort recycling is underway. In the event a waste hauler does not want to, or cannot collect single-sort recycling on a routine basis, Yakes said the county is allowing these haulers to contract out the recycling portion of the business. 

“We wanted to make sure businesses still had some flexibility,” said Yakes. “You have to have some sort of a plan for customers for recycling to be picked up.

The first portion of the county where single-sort curbside recycling must be picked up by licensed haulers is in the southeast portion of the county which includes the city’s of Henning and Battle Lake, as well as Blanche Lake, Clitherall Lake, Eagle Lake, East Battle Lake, East Leaf Lake, Middle Leaf Lake, Stuart Lake, West Battle Lake, West Leaf Lake and Silver Lake.

To the best of her knowledge, Yakes said no contractor has refused to work with a waste hauler to subcontract the recycling portion of their business in Otter Tail County.

“If that is an issue we are not aware about it,” she said.

Waste haulers who do not make arrangements to either collect themselves or subcontract out single-sort recycling pickup will not have their licenses approved by the county where the single-sort recycling plan has been implemented.

While the county maintains it has developed the new Solid Waste Management Ordinance to meet the growing needs of county residents, and has given haulers the opportunity to subcontract out the recycling portion of their business, not all local contractors have embraced the new ordinance. 

Steven Meyer, who has operated Tougas Sanitation near Henning for decades, said his company only hauls garbage and has no plans to subcontract out work he said they cannot do. He maintains his family-owned business has been serving the greater Henning and southeast Otter Tail County area for 30 years and does not have the resources to pick up single-sort recycling.

“I don’t have the resources (to do recycling) and I am not going to subcontract with someone for something I cannot do,” he said. “Financially, mentally and physically it doesn’t make sense for me to do.”

Over the course of the past year, Meyer has turned away customers in advance of the new ordinance taking place. Since he runs just one truck five days a week and does not plan to subcontract his waste hauling, Meyer said he has been told by county representatives his hauling license will not be renewed, even if he applied for the 2026 calendar year. 

“I was told if I do not have recycling for my customers I would not have my license renewed by the county,” said Meyer. “I knew I was going to retire at some point, I just didn’t expect to be railroaded into it this soon. The county is set on their agenda and the county commissioners are happy with their decision.”

Meyer said even if the county were to change its ordinance and allow him to only pick up waste like in the past, he will still likely close down his operation at the end of the year as he has had to turn away so many customers over the past year.

Bjerke reiterated that the county is looking out for the best interest of county residents and waste haulers as it changes its ordinance to allow for single-sort recycling across Otter Tail County.

“By no means were we intending to ruin anybody’s business by this,” said Bjerke. “This is something residents in the county wanted.”

The southeastern portion of the county is the first part of Otter Tail County that will receive free single-sort recycling as part of the county’s new program. While a lot of planning has went into the program as a whole, Bjerke said that doesn’t mean changes won’t be made to the program when it is rolled out to the other parts of the county.

“This is the plan we are following, but who knows when we get to the next quadrant. Who knows what will happen,” he said.

Bjerke said the hope was to get the recycling carts in the hands of customers before they went south for the winter, which is why they were delivered in October. In fact, he said the original plan was to have the carts delivered in June, but an issue with the recycling canister company led to a delay in delivery to Otter Tail County. While the plan is to have a free recycling program for bigger communities and densely populated lake areas across the county over the next few years, Bjerke said residents can opt out of the program and return their cart if they would like.

“It’s an evolving process as we go…even though we have a plan to follow we will adjust,” he said. “People think it is being forced on them, but they have the option to opt out.”

As far as what can be accepted as part of the new program, all #1-7 plastic, aluminum cans, tin cans, cardboard, office/newspaper/magazine paper, box board and glass. By going with a single sort option, property owners do not need to sort their items before hauling the canister to the curb for pick up. All of the items can be put into one cart and hauled to the curb like they would with their garbage pick up each time.

Bjerke said representatives from Steves Sanitation, who was awarded the single-sort recycling contract for the southeast portion of the county for those who do not have previous single-sort recycling arrangements set up, will be contacting residents later this year with a recycling schedule. Until that time, residents are asked not to put the blue recycling canister by the roadway as they will not be picked up. Residents who want to opt out of the single-sort recycling program should contact Otter Tail County Solid Waste.