The city of Ames’ garbage will go directly to the landfill with the Ames Power Plant shut down for planned maintenance. 

Currently, the Ames Power Plant is unable to process garbage into refuse-derived fuel, meaning that garbage is burned to power the city, until July 17. All garbage in Story County produced during the shutdown will go directly to the landfill and residents are asked to take advantage of several free recycling programs that are available year-round. 

Community members are asked to recycle food glass containers such as jelly, salsa or pickle jars, use the large yellow glass recycling bins located around Story County. The bins can be found by local grocery stores, Ames Hy-Vee gas stations and the north side of the Resource Recovery Plant.  

The Food Waste Diversion program will continue to offer free food waste disposal and community members can use the orange bin located on the north side of the Resource Recovery Plant. This program is offered by the city of Ames to help keep food waste out of the landfill by allowing participants to purchase a basic kit for organic waste collection. 

When the kit is full of organic waste, community members can dispose it at the Resource Recovery Plant. Since this pilot program requires payment, the cost has been waived. 

Community members can take their metal cans to the Resource Recovery Plant by driving through the car lane. Because the garbage will not be processed, even recyclable products will go to the landfill if residents don’t separate materials.

More information can be found on the city of Ames website.