Language (annotated with links to statutes, ordinances, voter registration,...)
Signature_Pages (view/download)
EFFECTIVE DATE The Ordinance (as proposed in this petition) shall take effect the...date of enactment under CITY CHARTER Section 8.04.
Share-OptOut.com
Trash
Petition
2025-2026
Residents are working to enact a City Ordinance that allows households with alternative disposal options to share a trash cart or dumpster, or to opt out.
Let's encourage residents to
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
Trash Reduction is "said" to be Essential...
... But:
•_In Saint Paul MN, residents who actively reduce, reuse and recycle (and when doing so end up with little or no trash), have - regardless of actual trash volume - been required by City Ordinance since 2018 to pay costly hauler fees plus 37.75% county/state taxes for unneeded and unused garbage "collection" services.
•_Although SHARING of Trash Carts or Dumpsters can promote trash reduction by lowering collection costs and saving space, this common practice has been prohibited by the City at properties with 1 to 4 residential units. In Saint Paul MN, residents have been billed for empty/unused trash carts - in effect subsidizing high-volume users whose carts are full.
BEGINNING
JANUARY 2026: Cart-sharing is allowed for some (but not all) multi-unit
buildings. Residents (in most cases renters) who
use trash carts provided by the City of St. Paul and who live in a multi-unit building
that is owned by one person/entity might be allowed to share one or more
trash carts or, in limited situations, a dumpster. The property
owner must submit an application
to the City.
Cart-sharing
continues to be:
Prohibited for
single-family houses; and
Prohibited
for multi-unit HOA buildings with City-owned trash carts (i.e., HomeOwner
Associations comprised of condominiums/townhomes with multiple property tax
parcels).
•_Exemptions are allowed by Minnesota state law, but have been, and in most cases continue to be, denied and/or restricted by the City of Saint Paul regardless of whether customers can ensure that an environmentally sound alternative is used.
Therefore, voters are circulating a petition as an "initiative" calling for enactment of a Saint Paul ordinance that will allow renter-occupied AND owner-occupied households to share a trash cart or dumpster, or to opt out; thus more broadly Encouraging – and Supporting – Trash Reduction.
Language (annotated with links to statutes, ordinances, voter registration,...)
Signature_Pages (view/download)
EFFECTIVE DATE The Ordinance (as proposed in this petition) shall take effect the...date of enactment under CITY CHARTER Section 8.04.
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Petition Signup Events - (Locations, Dates, Times - to be determined. Please watch the Facebook Group &/or look here later. Thanks!)
Flyer (view/download)
Facebook Group ("St._Paul_Trash")
Application for Cart-sharing - (If you are the owner of all units in a multi-unit building with City-provided trash carts, submit a request to the City to share one or more trash carts - or in limited cases, to share a dumpster)
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Facebook Group (Join; Comment; Ask to be contacted)
An ESL Textbook/Workbook
