2005 Solid Waste Policy Report

Waste management at a crossroads

Note: This policy report is the first prepared by a single agency that combines the resources of the Pollution Control Agency and the former Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance.

Summary

The overarching theme of the 2005 Policy Report is that after 25 years of implementation of the Waste Management Act, waste management in Minnesota is at a crossroads. While much progress has been made in avoiding landfilling and in recovering resources from waste, Minnesota faces significant challenges in the upcoming years.

• Despite recent strong market prices for commodities, recycling rates have leveled off at nearly 41 percent, meaning that even as the total tons recycled per year continues to grow, the gains are being outpaced by overall growth in waste generation.
• Given inflation and budget cuts, state financial support for waste management activities has been eroding steadily. In response, some counties, particularly in rural areas, have been cutting back their efforts on recycling, waste reduction, public education, and problem materials management.
• Two of the largest waste-to-energy facilities may close in 2007 and 2009 when county contracts expire.
• Landfill capacity in the Metropolitan Area is limited to three privately-owned landfills, and neighboring states (Wisconsin, Iowa, and North Dakota) are increasing fees on landfilled waste, including all waste imported into their states.
• There is a distinct possibility that our reliance on other states over the last 10 years for cheap landfilling may not last. This trend may place a heavy burden on Minnesota's landfill capacity, particularly if a portion of today's waste-to-energy processing capacity is lost and more capacity is not added.
• While Minnesota has been successful in closing open-burning dumps, raising environmental protection at disposal facilities, and diverting huge amounts of material from landfills, it has not succeeded in reducing the amount of material being thrown out.

Three focus areas for policy work

The 2005 report highlights three primary policy recommendations:

• Preserve and increase waste-to-energy capacity to conserve landfill capacity
• Recover more recyclables and organics
• Stop residential burning and on-site burial of waste

These three recommendations are the result of internal discussion and stakeholder input and are directly linked to the MPCA's 2006 strategic plan, which calls for ambitious waste-abatement achievements by January 2011. For example, the MPCA strategic plan calls for Minnesota to send 35 percent of its total waste to waste-to-energy and source-separated composting processing facilities, up from the current total for such processing: less than 21 percent. Since some of Minnesota's existing capacity may be in jeopardy, hitting the 35 percent goal will take considerable effort and perhaps a new way of looking at the problem.

Research needs

The report also discusses other subsequent policy recommendations. Research needs are highlighted and organized in the report according to the Waste Management Act solid waste hierarchy.

Current state solid waste policy

The goal of the Waste Management Act (Minn. Stat. § 115A.02a) is to foster an integrated waste management system in a manner appropriate to the characteristics of the waste stream, and thereby protect the environment and public health. The WMA ranks waste management practices in the following order of preference:

1. Waste reduction and reuse
2. Waste recycling
3. Composting of yard waste and food waste
4. Resource recovery through mixed municipal solid waste composting or incineration
5. Land disposal which produces no measurable methane gas or which involves the retrieval of methane gas as a fuel for the production of energy to be used on-site or for sale.
6. Land disposal that produces measurable methane but does not involve the retrieval of methane gas as a fuel for the production of energy to be used on-site or for sale.