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Following the 2024 legislative session, the MPCA was charged with appointing a 15-member task force to advise the agency on policy and program opportunities that would increase the recovery of critical materials — including aluminum, cobalt, copper, nickel, and silicon — from end-of-life products.

18621: Critical Materials Recycling and Recovery Task Force report
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Recommendations report

In 2024, the Legislature tasked MPCA with exploring how Minnesota could recover and recycle more critical materials. This report captures the Task Force’s findings and recommendations. (Dec. 2025)

Meetings and members

The task force met throughout 2025, with the MPCA facilitating meetings. 

Meetings

Members

Task force members were appointed by the MPCA commissioner with input from a selection team. 

  • Dave Benke, MPCA – MPCA commissioner designee
  • Ed Hodder, Department of Employment & Economic Development (DEED) – DEED commissioner designee
  • Kelly Applegate, Department of Natural Resources for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe – Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) appointee
  • Mian Moaz Uddin, Great Plains Institute – expert in one or more subjects that are relevant to the work of the task force
  • Chris McConn, Otter Tail County – representative from the Solid Waste Administrators Association (SWAA)
  • Amanda Tischer Buros, Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations – representative from a company that disassembles electronic waste
  • Michelle Manson, BlueGreen Alliance – representative from an energy advocacy organization
  • Roopali Phadke, Recycling Electronics for Climate Action (RECA) – representative from an organization that is primarily involved in environmental justice issues
  • John Arbogast, United Steelworkers – representative from an industrial labor union
  • Patrick O’Connell, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) – representative from a labor union affiliated with the Building and Construction Trades Council
  • Tim Dunn, Best Buy – representative from an electronics manufacturer that operates an e-waste recycling program and is also an electronics retailer
  • Patrick Schoff, Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) – representative from the NRRI in Duluth
  • Jordan Nickels, BENCO Electric Cooperative – representative of a utility providing retail electric service to customers in Minnesota
  • Tricia Dutcher, Redwood Materials – representative from a recovery infrastructure operator
  • Joshua Freeman, Panasonic – representative from a manufacturer that uses critical materials as inputs 

Task force recommendations

The final report contains findings and recommendations, which include:

  • developing a strategic road map for achieving domestic recovery of critical materials
  • investigating emerging technologies employed to recover critical materials from electronic waste, components of renewable energy generating systems, and other end-of-life products
  • evaluating the economic, environmental, and social costs, benefits, and impacts associated with various methods of recovering critical materials from end-of-life products
  • identifying options to prevent products containing critical materials from being disposed of in a landfill or waste combustor
  • consulting with stakeholders regarding recycling and end-of-life management options for products containing critical materials that enhance the possibility of recovery
  • identifying infrastructure needed to develop an integrated system to collect, transport, and recycle products for critical materials recovery