2001 Solid Waste Policy Report

The goal of Minnesota's Waste Management Act (as stated in Minn. Stat. § 115A.02a) is to protect the state's land, air, water, and other natural resources and the public health by improving waste management in the state in order to reduce the amount and toxicity of waste generated, increase the separation and recovery of materials and energy from waste, coordinate the statewide management of solid waste, and the development and financial security of waste management facilities, including disposal facilities.

Conclusions about the status of solid waste in Minnesota

Minnesota has many successes in implementing state solid waste policy: the state's recycling rate of 48 percent is nation's second-highest; over 20 percent of Minnesota waste is sent to resource recovery facilities, one of the highest rates in the nation; and high levels of yard waste are composted.

However, there are still four areas in which much more progress in implementing state policy can potentially be made:

• Growth in waste generation. Minnesota's waste generation grows at an average rate of over 4 percent per year. Evidence indicates that most of this increase in waste is coming from the commercial sector rather than the residential sector.
• Recyclable and compostable materials are being landfilled or incinerated. Approximately 72 percent of the waste currently being landfilled or incinerated consists of materials that could be put to higher and better use through recycling or composting. Most of this material is paper, cardboard, non-recyclable paper, and food waste.
• Landfilling has surpassed resource recovery as the primary method of waste disposal. Despite the preference for resource recovery stated in state solid waste policy, 50 percent more waste is now landfilled than incinerated. Less than 10 years ago, resource recovery tonnages exceeded landfill tonnages by a factor of two.
• Waste exports to other states. These exports have tripled since 1993, increasing potential liability to Minnesotans as well as bypassing state solid waste policy.

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Policy Initiatives

OEA will address these problems through a combination of research and policy initiatives, a workgroup to look into the sources of waste growth, and the expertise of advisory groups.

OEA policy and research initiatives

• Waste reduction. The OEA plans to implement targeted technical assistance to businesses and waste reduction media campaigns, and to develop waste reduction incentives.
• Business and multi-family recycling. There is evidence that waste growth may be predominantly coming from the commercial, industrial, and institutional sectors of the economy. Over the current biennium, the OEA plans further research into the sources of solid waste growth, and to establish a work group to determine the best strategies for increasing recycling in these sectors of the economy.
• Organics composting. The OEA supports the development of programs that promote the recovery of organics before they enter the waste stream. Compostable organics now constitute approximately 35 percent of waste that is landfilled or incinerated. Source-separated composting programs such as the one implemented in Hutchinson show considerable potential in their ability to capture a large proportion of these organics.
• Risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis. The OEA will be following up on its 1999 R. W. Beck report, "Municipal Solid Waste and its Impact on Resource Conservation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," with research into the risks, costs, and benefits of those life-cycle impacts. This report will also look at the life-cycle impacts of the product categories targeted in the OEA's product stewardship plan.
• Evaluation of problem materials policy. The state currently prohibits certain products from the waste stream in order to eliminate potential air and water pollution from chemicals contained in those products. The OEA plans to evaluate the extent to which these bans have been successful in removing the products, or the presence of certain constituent toxic chemicals or elements, from the waste stream.

Collection systems

Several local governments have recently explored or used changes in their collection systems as a tool for implementing state solid waste policy. Given this interest and potential, the OEA explored collection systems in Minnesota and came to the following conclusions:

Minnesota's organized collection law is outdated and should be amended to reflect today's solid waste management system. New collection strategies available to local governments demonstrate the potential to be less expensive than existing collection systems while remaining competitive. These strategies also support the policy that waste contains resources that should be managed by methods that maximize the highest and best use of those resources.

The choice of a collection system is critical to local government success in meeting the goals of the Waste Management Act, while having the potential to have a positive impact on other public policy areas as well, such as environmental policy, noise pollution, litter, hauling costs, and local government finances. The OEA encourages local governments to explore organized collection strategies as a tool that can be used to support the responsible management of waste. OEA intends to work with local governments to develop model organized collection ordinances.

Recommendations of advisory groups

Three major efforts were undertaken in 2000-2001 in order to develop recommendations to improve the solid waste system: the Citizen's Jury, the Solid Waste Technical Advisory Group, and the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Each of these advisory groups examined the state's solid waste management system and developed recommendations for improving the system. The OEA supports the most significant recommendations that emerged from these three projects.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Part 1: Introduction

1. State policy
2. Waste as a resource
3. Organization of report

Part 2: The Status of Solid Waste in Minnesota

1. The solid waste management system
2. Waste generation and source reduction
3. Collection
4. Recycling
5. Composting
6. Waste disposal
7. Other policy successes
8. Conclusions

Part 3: Policy Initiatives

1. OEA policy and research initiatives
2. Analysis of collection systems
3. Advisory group recommendations

Appendix 1: Recent Accomplishments

Appendix 2: Program Initiatives

Related Research

The Reports on SCORE Programs present data and analysis on Minnesota's solid waste and recycling programs for the calendar year.

Recycling and Waste Reduction (2002) is an evaluation report by the state Office of the Legislative Auditor. Their analysis showed that county recycling programs are mostly successful. They also concluded that much of what Minnesotans are still throwing away could be diverted from the waste stream.

The Minnesota MSW Composition Study is a detailed examination of what Minnesotans throw away as garbage. Despite recycling 46% of waste in the state, Minnesotans threw away 3 million tons of garbage in 1998. (March 2000)

Minnesota's Solid Waste Advisory Committee convened for a series of full-day meetings that ran through January 2002. The committee explored and developed solutions to address the state's growing waste stream in a manner that is sustainable and protective of the environment.

The committee built upon the efforts of the Solid Waste Technical Advisory Work Group (2001), which used a systems mapping approach to evaluate barriers to implementing a totally integrated solid waste system in Minnesota.

Citizens Jury: Metro solid waste (2001) involved 18 Twin Cities residents in a 5-day process to develop recommendations about strategies for managing the region's solid waste, including waste reduction, reuse, recycling, processing (composting, waste-to-energy) and landfilling.