The Dakota City Recycling Depot is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In a few short months, the city of Dakota City has gone from 26th to 11th among cities recycling with the regional landfill at Fort Dodge, thanks to their new red recycling depot located just west of City Hall. The recycling depot is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people to drop off newspapers, cardboard, magazines, plastics, tin and clear glass for recycling.

As each area is filled, it is emptied so bins are not full when citizens bring their recyclables to the depot. This was not the case when the service was contracted. The cost of buying and remodeling the building was $15,653. The cost for the city to haul a truckload of recycling materials to Fort Dodge is $25 per load, or approximately $200 per month.

The city has saved the cost of bin rental and dumping ($365 per month) and employee time spent cleaning up and organizing the recycling area around the bins. Additionally, the city is nearing its state goal to reduce solid waste going to the landfill by 50 percent. The city has gone from recycling approximately 60 cubic yards to 140 cubic yards per month. Plus, the county reimburses the city $400 per year because the county has removed their recycling box.