As a community-based, nonprofit social enterprise, Eureka operates like a zero waste laboratory. We take the data and experiences from our operations and apply it to advocacy and policy work that is aimed at changing systems, so it's easier to not only recycle more, but (more importantly) to waste less.
Wasting less means protecting our most marginalized and vulnerable communities from the detrimental effects of toxic pollution. Uncommon to the industry, we make it a priority to provide our employees with good green jobs that offer living wages with benefits.
Wasting less means protecting our most marginalized and vulnerable communities from the detrimental effects of toxic pollution. Uncommon to the industry, we make it a priority to provide our employees with good green jobs that offer living wages with benefits.
Services
Eureka Recycling employs more than 100 people. Our drivers have been unionized since 2010, and all employees, including sorters in the MRF, are paid a living wage with benefits (counter to standard practice in the industry). We are proud to have a passionate team of individuals dedicated to our mission.
Eureka Recycling is dedicated to demonstrating that waste is completely preventable, not inevitable. Eureka works to bridge the gap between our vision for a Zero Waste future and the realities of today with tangible, real-world solutions.
We're modelling the idea that by systematically addressing the way we manage our resources, we can create solutions to the most pressing issues of our time, including climate change, building strong local economies, and supporting healthy equitable communities.We believe that communities deserve access to the most accurate information about waste reduction.
We're modelling the idea that by systematically addressing the way we manage our resources, we can create solutions to the most pressing issues of our time, including climate change, building strong local economies, and supporting healthy equitable communities.We believe that communities deserve access to the most accurate information about waste reduction.
Eureka Recycling's recycling operations and our services are self-sustaining. However, Eureka Recycling is a non-profit and does raise money in order to break new ground on needed zero waste initiatives and programs. We are grateful to the hundreds of generous supporters - both individuals and organizations - who provide financial support for Eureka Recycling's leading edge work in zero waste.
If you are interested in working to change systems that perpetuate waste and the problems it causes for our health, economy, and communities; participating in organizational leadership in a collaborative setting; and supporting our initiative to deepen diversity and inclusion in our organization, Eureka Recycling may be the right place for you!
Our Material Recovery Facility (or MRF for short) processes an average of 400 to 450 tons of recycling every day. With a combination of machines and hardworking people, we turn a giant pile of mixed recyclables into about a dozen different material categories to be shipped out and made into new products.
Reviews (18)
Sean Edman
Dec 18, 2021
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Steve Wondering
Dec 17, 2021
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They should recycling the Eureka company itself. Last week they didn’t pick up and called in they said “the recycling card wasn’t there” even though I rolled the bin out there myself, this week they didn’t take it again and I called in they said “the opening side of the cart not facing the street”, I went out and turned the bin around, I saw the recycling truck back out from the alley and I told him that I did turned the bin around already and the guy just ignored and gone. The most horrible company for the community work, the city will getting worse with a company like this to take
Jenna Sipe
Feb 20, 2021
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No stars! Make sure your lid is closed all the way or they'll drive by even if it's just an inch oh wait but don't pack the recycling down ethier or they won't pick up. Drivers don't even have to get out of their truck. Over st. Paul and the "contract" that says lid needs to be closed. I just won't recycle.
Tyler Nash
Feb 10, 2021
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Eureka recycling is a joke of an operation. They won’t pick up if your lids are not 100% closed which has absolutely no affect on the way they pick up, they’ll just drive right on by and keep going. I’ll just throw everything in the trash from now on thanks to them. No wonder there’s garbage laying all over the city, they don’t care.
Nichole Schroepfer
Dec 31, 2020
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Eureka is about as horrible as they come. They don't pick up half the time. When they do, they don't empty the barrel completely. Their drivers are absolutely reckless. Last year they took out my mailbox when the driver was driving without the arm being properly retracted. Yesterday I saw he was driving with the arm not being secured again. I guess its easy not to care when you win big city contracts.
Leo'S. Lineup Layout Pritschet
Nov 13, 2020
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Eureka Recycling isn’t About recycling it is about profit in the business. They have one or two drivers who continuously do the bare minimum and nitpick any way possible for to not pick up your recycling and leave it for for an entire week and leaving you dealing with the mess. I will admit it seems they have a handful of decent guys who will actually do their job, however a few of those guys should have practiced law the way they find loopholes in not having to take your recycling. Apparently there is a procedure where the bin has to be facing toward the street or the guy will just skip it,
Liz Crandall
Sep 07, 2020
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Half the time they don't even fully empty our containers. Two weeks ago, our entire recycling container was left untouched. We left it out in case the pick up was delayed; assuming this must be the case. It was not. The following week they decided to pick it up. This morning, woke up to the contents of the bin strewn all over the street in front of our home. Really horrible service, if you can call it that. Especially during the pandemic when we have much larger amounts of recycling to dispose of properly, i.e. cardboard boxes from doing much of our shopping at home. All around horrible service
Ian F.
Jul 29, 2020
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Gaius Poehler
Jul 27, 2020
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Eureka recycling had been wonderful until about 5 months ago where the (I think 1, in that some weeks everything does get picked up) driver stopped emptying all the recycling bins despite my efforts to make sure that the proper items were in the bins. The customer service manager there named Lisa is somewhat enabling of said driver who won't pick up all the bins, and management above Lisa isn't doing anything about it. This week all the bins were picked up/emptied, but it's not reliable like it used to be; some weeks they're not all picked up/emptied.
Bret W.
Apr 11, 2019
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Sam F.
Mar 27, 2019
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Frank W.
Mar 09, 2019
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They have been quite good so far except for the fact that once they took over the route they don't pick up until late in the afternoon whereas the previous recycler picked up in the morning. Now, however, they have stopped picking up our bin at all simply because we had placed an extra bundle of cardboard on top of the bin. (We were told by the office that we could do this.) What's up? Driver independence? Laziness?
Rob Morse
Jun 04, 2018
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No Stars, what a complete incompetent company hired by St. Paul. Did not pickup my recycling one week and then was overflowing the next. Then had the audacity to tell me that the bin would not be picked up because it was overflowing and lid was up. No kidding, you did not pick it up and drove right by the week before. Now St. Paul wants to hire out all trash removal? So we can have the same incompetence for trash? What a mistake. Eureka, your customer support person Lisa knows all the reasons why they do not pickup, but can not support a why they drive right by and do nothing. I watched as our
Terry H.
Oct 17, 2017
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This company is terrible!
We moved to St. Paul recently and have had a terrible time with Eureka picking up our recycling. Reading the other reviews, I realize that we are not alone. Apparently St. Paul doesn't have any incentive or penalty clauses in their contract with Eureka and so they act like a non customer friendly monopoly. I hope the city administrators take note of all the bad reviews and don't contract with Eureka in the future.
We moved to St. Paul recently and have had a terrible time with Eureka picking up our recycling. Reading the other reviews, I realize that we are not alone. Apparently St. Paul doesn't have any incentive or penalty clauses in their contract with Eureka and so they act like a non customer friendly monopoly. I hope the city administrators take note of all the bad reviews and don't contract with Eureka in the future.
Rick P.
Jul 20, 2017
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The only reason I am giving Eureka a 2 star is because the customer service department is very helpful. However, I only talk to them because my recycling is constantly being forgot about and not being picked up. Usually they pick it up a day or two late which interferes with my garbage being picked up.
Fog M.
Jan 24, 2017
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I give a negative review because they are unresponsive and poorly run at this point. They've been ok in the past. Their new recycling program is barely functional despite all of their so called preparation. But there is no one else who takes recycling so all you can do is drop off recycling at centers like before.
Tony H.
Jul 08, 2015
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Was recently involved in an accident with a Eureka recycling truck were the driver came flying out of an alley in St. Paul and t-boned me. The driver didn't even stop he kept driving. I chased him down and called the cops. The police showed up and through talking with the driver and the police if we filed a police report the driver would receive a citation. I didn't want that to happen he seemed like a nice guy and made a mistake, plus he had 5 kids at home and I didn't want him to get in trouble. So I talked to his supervisor on the phone and we decided to handle it through insurance
Dee T.
Jul 22, 2009
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Zachary S's composting poll reminded me that I've been meaning to review this business.
Imagine my horror when we moved here from a *much* smaller metro, with a well-documented lack of commitment to recycling and renewable resources (hello, Detroit has a humongous INCINERATOR and Michigan takes practically all of Canada's garbage for landfill), only to find that the recycling programs here in the Twin Cities are sadly much less comprehensive than what I've been accustomed to using.
The plastics and cardboard recycling here fall far short. I still have not gotten a satisfactory
Imagine my horror when we moved here from a *much* smaller metro, with a well-documented lack of commitment to recycling and renewable resources (hello, Detroit has a humongous INCINERATOR and Michigan takes practically all of Canada's garbage for landfill), only to find that the recycling programs here in the Twin Cities are sadly much less comprehensive than what I've been accustomed to using.
The plastics and cardboard recycling here fall far short. I still have not gotten a satisfactory
