Funfest Pilots New Recycling Program

Red, white, and blue—with a dash of green: This year, organizers at the Eagan Funfest will debut a new, earth-friendly recycling system for the public to use.

It is a first for Eagan's July 4 festival, said Leigh Behrens, environmental technician for Dakota Valley Recycling, a joint venture between the cities of Burnsville, Apple Valley and Eagan. Dakota Valley has partnered with the fest to make the plan a reality. 

Behrens said they are hoping to divert about 25 percent of the waste from Fun Fest from a landfill to a recycling facility instead, though as yet it is unclear exactly how much waste the event will generate. For now, the initiative includes non-organic waste only—plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass and plastic cups.

The effort is part of a larger push to make recycling widely available in public settings. 

"We want people to know that is not just an at-home thing," Behrens said. 

Funfest partiers will notice 30 blue x-frame containers, a wire recycling bin similar to those that residents may have seen at the Dakota County Fair, which has loaned Funfest a number of the contraptions.

"What is special about x-frames is that you can actually see into it. At an event when you're carrying so many different things—funnel cakes, pop and water— you don't have to read a bunch of stuff," Behrens said. "You can tell just by looking at it what goes in there."