The MPCA has announced a total of $1 million in grants for six projects that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting efforts in Greater Minnesota communities. These projects will ultimately reduce the amount of waste entering landfills, benefiting the environment and local economies.
According to Heidi Ringhofer, a Greater Minnesota solid waste planner with the MPCA, the grants will largely support existing recycling efforts as the technology and the volume of recycling advances.
“It is great to be able to help businesses keep up with the industry and grow in their abilities to deal with a growing number of recyclables,” Ringhofer said.
Following the waste hierarchy, the MPCA prioritizes waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and organics recycling because these activities have the lowest environmental footprint and help reduce the emissions that cause climate change.
These activities and other waste management efforts and their costs are summarized every year in the SCORE report. In the most recent SCORE report from 2023, Minnesota posted a combined organics and recycling rate of 45.3%, the highest rate since the MPCA began to track recycling. Minnesota counties also reported reusing 33,998 tons of materials, the highest amount since tracking these materials by county started a few years ago.
While both of these numbers are on the rise, it is through continued efforts like the projects these grants will fund that we will continue to tackle the state’s growing waste problem.
For many years, this Greater Minnesota grant program has used funds approved by the Legislature to award approximately $1 million in grants on an annual basis for waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting program development and expansion. The MPCA anticipates opening another application round for this grant program in late summer 2025.
Grant recipients
Becker County Environmental Services Department
- Grant award: $178,096.60
- Project cost: $281,331.60
Becker County plans to start a source-separated organics collection program at sites that generate large amounts of organic waste such as schools and grocery stores. The county will also place collection containers for residents to use at community drop-off sites in Detroit Lakes, Audubon, Lake Park, and Frazee. Grant funds will be used for the purchase of community and home collection bins, compostable bags, and sorting equipment for schools.
Hubbard County
- Grant award: $250,000
- Project cost: $312,500
Hubbard County plans to expand the county's construction and demolition hub-and-spoke plan. This project would focus on establishing and building on the infrastructure needed in the northwest region to recycle and beneficially reuse materials such as clean lumber, asphalt shingles, gypsum/drywall, and brush/yard waste debris. This project would focus on Hubbard County, but components of the project would be expandable into its entire nine-county region. Grant funds will be used to purchase mulch colorizer equipment and a stacking conveyor and to construct a fabric building to process and store recyclables.
Beltrami County Solid Waste
- Grant award: $162,278.50
- Project cost: $216,596.30
Beltrami County plans to add a new recycling drop-off site on the north end of Bemidji. This site would allow citizens to have continued access to a single-sort recycling site. Grant funds would be used to purchase a compactor and containers for single sort recycling, for site prep, and to educate residents about the new program.
Prairie Lakes Municipal Solid Waste Authority
- Grant award: $192,210
- Project cost: $328,430
Prairie Lakes Municipal Solid Waste Authority plans to develop and pilot a municipal solid waste combustor ash recycling project. The grant funds will be used to analyze ash, to screen recyclable material from the ash, to conduct project design, and for education.
Blue Earth County
- Grant award: $50,000
- Project cost: $62,5000
Blue Earth County plans to increase available space for reusable material in an expansion of a current reuse area by purchasing shelving and storage/shipping containers.
Rice County Environmental Services – partial award
- Grant award: $167,414.90
- Project cost: $211,269.90
Rice County plans to reduce the amount of construction and demolition waste being landfilled in the county and to increase education and outreach surrounding waste diversion and reuse opportunities with an emphasis on targeting historically underserved communities. Funding will be used to hire staff to implement programs, provide mini-grants to construction and demolition contractors, and set up a shingle recycling program.