Solid waste planning

Hennepin County has goals of recycling 75 percent of waste and sending zero waste to landfills by 2030.

The county's solid waste management master plan outlines our strategies for meeting these goals. The annual recycling progress report provides updates on our efforts and highlights our commitment to making progress toward our goals.

In addition, the county establishes ordinances that govern solid waste management and conducts research to support solid waste planning initiatives.

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Reinventing the solid waste system to repurpose the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center

Reinventing the solid waste system

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners heard a board briefing and discussion on Thursday, January 25 on a plan to reinvent the county’s solid waste system. This briefing responds to the resolution passed on October 24, 2023, to develop a closure plan for the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC).

Hennepin County plans to aggressively pursue zero-waste policies, programming, and infrastructure and advocate for policy changes at the state level to move toward zero waste and make meaningful progress toward reducing climate emissions.

The briefing laid out the 12 highest priority zero-waste actions. These include:

Passing an extended producer responsibility law at the state legislature to require producers of packaging to take responsibility for that packaging all the way from design to recycling or safe disposal.
Securing adequate funding for zero-waste initiatives by using all revenue from the state’s solid waste management tax on waste management activities.
Banning recyclable materials, such as cardboard or mattresses, and organic materials like food scraps from landfills.
Recovering recyclable and organic materials from the trash by developing a recycling recovery facility, which would use a variety of technologies to sort cardboard, metal, some plastics, and organics materials from the trash for reuse or recycling.

A zero-waste dashboard was introduced at the briefing to define the criteria to be met to responsibly close HERC and to identify 22 policies that need to be accomplished by the state legislature to realize this zero-waste future. The four metrics – recycling rate, percent of food and other biogenic materials in the trash, waste generated per capita, and landfill rates – will be tracked and reported on annually.

See the following materials developed in response to the board resolution:

A plan to reinvent the solid waste system report (PDF)
Reinventing the solid waste system presentation (PDF)
HERC response from cities (PDF), including summary and individual letters received
Legislative zero-waste priorities (PDF)
Memo on the county’s efforts in renewable energy (PDF)

HERC closure plan resolution

The board resolution passed on October 24, 2023 directed staff to develop a closure plan for the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) between 2028 to 2040. The resolution included 5 key actions:

Propose legislative priorities and platform items by December 1, 2023
Engage city elected officials and gather input, with comments due January 15, 2024
Engage a consultant to assess viability of the county investing in renewable energy sources by February 1, 2024
Develop a HERC closure plan between 2028 and 2040 and submit to the board by February 1, 2024
Prepare contingency plans in the event of a sooner closure date

The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center and its role in the solid waste system report

A report was prepared for the county board to provide information and context related to decision-making for the 2024 Solid Waste Management Plan, the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC), community concerns, and a provision in the state legislature’s 2023 infrastructure bill that the county must submit a plan for the cessation of operations at HERC to access the $26 million appropriated for the construction of an anaerobic digester.

Read the report: The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center and its role in the solid waste system (PDF)

Mapping a zero-waste future

About the Zero Waste Plan

In August 2021, the county board passed a resolution directing staff to develop an operational plan to map Hennepin County to a zero-waste future that includes a broad community engagement process with a strong focus on equity and disparity reduction. The county’s zero-waste resolution calls for a draft zero-waste plan to be presented at a Board Briefing in November 2022.

Hennepin County’s zero-waste vision is a waste management system where all materials are designed to become resources for others to use to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. The key performance measure is diverting 90% or more of all discarded materials from landfills and incinerators.

Consultant team

The county solicited multiple proposals to hire consultants and community groups to work with county staff to develop this plan. The consulting team and their roles include:

Zero waste plan community engagement partners

Eighteen community groups were selected to receive funding to support community engagement with the Zero Waste Plan. These groups will be responsible for providing input on engagement plans for their communities, hosting engagement sessions, and communicating updates to their members on the process and feedback opportunities. As a cohort, these groups will work together to gain a broader understanding of the solid waste system, develop community-identified solutions, and define themes for use in the subsequent plan development phase.

Action to Equity
Audubon Neighborhood Association
Center for Hmong Arts and Talent
Climate Generation/Youth Environmental Activists of Minnesota (YEA! MN)
Community Power
Congregations Caring for Creation
Eastside Neighborhood Services
Ebenezer Oromo Evangelical Church
Encouraging Leaders
Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota
McKinley Community
MN Renewable Now
NoMi Roots
Northside Residents Redevelopment Council
Off The Blue Couch
Somali American Women Action Center
Resilient Cities and Communities with Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia
Thai Cultural Council of Minnesota

Solid waste consultant

Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) was hired as the solid waste consultant to identify gaps in the county’s existing solid waste system, review the solid waste systems of leading zero-waste communities, conduct stakeholder engagement, and coordinate work groups to develop strategies.

Facilitation and community engagement consultant

Antonia Apolinário-Wilcoxon, Ed.D. of Equity Strategies was hired as a facilitator to support the plan’s broad community engagement process with a strong focus on equity and disparity reduction. One key responsibility of the facilitator is to coordinate a cohort of 15 community groups that will be focused on engaging residents who have traditionally been left out of solid waste planning processes and are potentially more burdened by the current solid waste system.

As a skilled local facilitator, Dr. Apolinário-Wilcoxon will provide transparency and neutrality in discussions and analysis of feedback regarding concerns and opportunities related to the county’s solid waste system.

Annual recycling progress report

2022 recycling progress report

The 2022 recycling progress report (PDF) provides an update on implementation of Hennepin County’s Solid Waste Management Master Plan, progress toward waste diversion goals, and a summary of the 2022 results for the county’s waste management programs.

Waste management in Hennepin County

About 1.27 million tons of solid waste, which includes recycling, organics, and trash, were generated in Hennepin County in 2022. That is a 2% decrease from 2021, or about 31,000 tons less.

Of the total tons generated, 41% was managed as recycling and organics. The remaining 59% was managed as trash at a waste-to-energy facility or landfill.

2022 highlights and major accomplishments

The following highlights how we made progress on priority initiatives in 2022:

Developed the draft Zero Waste Plan, informed by a robust community engagement effort and shaped by action planning work groups, and identified actions to significantly increase recycling and decrease waste in Hennepin County
Expanded organics recycling with implementation of the county’s requirement that residential organics recycling be offered in all cities.
Celebrated 10 years of Fix-It Clinics and returned to hosting in-person clinics.
Served 137,000 households at drop-off facilities and collection events to ensure safe disposal and recycling.
Helped residents adopt low-waste habits through the Stop Food Waste and Plastic-Free Challenges – more than 1,400 people took. actions that resulted in over 5,000 pounds of plastic items avoided and nearly 1,000 pounds of food waste prevented.
Trained 92 new Community Recycling Ambassadors.
Reopened education tours of waste facilities and gave 11 tours to 99 participants.
Drafted actions for the Zero Waste Plan – 62 actions were developed by 167 work group participants based on feedback from more than 1,000 residents.
Launched a new program called MNimize to help food businesses reduce their use of single-use plastics.
Continued a food donation/food rescue audit to identify gaps and opportunities in the food donation system.
Conducted inspections to increased compliance with the Ordinance 13 business food waste recycling requirements and provide education and resources to businesses.
Selected a preferred proposer for development of the anaerobic digestion facility to expand infrastructure for processing organics.
Increased outreach and funding for multifamily recycling by contracting with Waste Wise to provide outreach and technical assistance and allocated more state SCORE funds for city projects.
Received an award from the National Association of Counties for the building reuse grant program.

Solid waste management master plan

About the plan

The Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Master Plan for 2018 - 2023 identifies strategies the county will pursue to reach the goals of recycling 75 percent of waste and sending zero waste to landfills by 2030. State statute requires metro counties to prepare master plans every six years that identify strategies to meet the recycling goals and objectives in the state’s Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Management Policy Plan.

The plan was adopted by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners on November 28, 2017.

See the Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Master Plan for 2018–2023 (PDF) to learn about the proposed strategies and next steps.

Strategies included in the plan

The master plan includes the following strategies to help meet our goals of increasing recycling, preventing waste, and sending zero waste to landfills:

Focus on organics recycling, which is the greatest opportunity to reduce our trash, by proposing requirements for cities and certain businesses, increasing local capacity to manage organics, and working to prevent food waste.
Build momentum for waste prevention and reuse by better understanding consumption habits and promoting waste prevention actions.
Continue to serve residents where they are, including with single-family and multifamily residences and at work, school and on-the-go.
Expand drop-off disposal options for certain materials.
Divert construction and demolition waste.
Support the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's environmental justice policy, which aligns with the county's disparity reduction efforts.

The strategies were development based on feedback gathered through public engagement efforts from March through October 2017. See the summary of formal comments (PDF).

Supporting materials

The following supporting materials provide more context and in-depth information for the plan:

Organics processing

To meet the county’s zero-waste and climate action goals, the county is focused on diverting food waste and other organic materials from the trash. To support the further expansion of organics recycling, the Zero Waste Plan includes an action for the county to develop and support waste infrastructure with its government partners and the solid waste industry.

Supporting large-scale organics processing infrastructure

As of December 2023, the county is no longer pursuing an anaerobic digestion facility. The county made this decision based on the following factors:

The capital and operating costs were well beyond an acceptable target price. Since the county began the purchasing process in 2018, many market conditions have shifted – inflation, supply chain disruptions, and labor costs – and made the project not financially viable.
The local landscape for organics processing has changed significantly. The region now has composting sites expanding their capacity and other public and private entities are developing anaerobic digestion facilities with greater capacity than what the county’s site could manage.

Pursuing infrastructure investments that are still needed to accelerate progress toward zero waste

The county is shifting focus to explore a recycling recovery facility to pull reusables, recyclables, and organics from the trash prior to disposal. This type of facility, when paired with existing recycling programs, has the greatest potential to increase recycling rates.

Increasing capacity of transfer stations to manage organics

The county will evaluate investments in transfer capacity that complement the needs of organics collection programs and organics processing facilities. This could include the expansion of transfer capacity, the ability to manage different streams of organics, or the use of technology to implement innovative new methods that increase organics diversion.

Supporting the growth of community-scale composting sites

The county will explore opportunities to support the development and growth of community-scale composting sites (less than 5,000 cubic yards per year). The county currently provides grant funding for organics drop-off sites. The county is also supporting backyard composting through financial, technical, and educational assistance.

Producer responsibility for packaging

Developing a producer responsibility policy for packaging

The Partnership on Waste and Energy, which is a collaborative effort of Hennepin, Ramsey, and Washington counties, partnered with the Product Stewardship Institute to develop a producer responsibility bill for packaging and paper products in Minnesota. The policy is being developed to meet the interests of key stakeholders and will prevent waste, increase recycling, and save cities millions of dollars.

About producer responsibility

Producer responsibility policies hold producers of a product and packaging responsible for that product throughout its entire lifecycle — from product design all the way through to reuse, recycling, or safe disposal.

Producer responsibility for packaging across the U.S.

The policy development in Minnesota is occurring in tandem with the development of producer responsibility legislation for packaging and paper products in states across the country. Since 2019, a dozen U.S. states have introduced producer responsibility for packaging legislation. The first laws in the U.S. passed in Oregon and Maine in 2021 and California and Colorado in 2022.

With city recycling costs rising and consumer pressure mounting for brands to take action, momentum for producer responsibility bills for packaging and paper products has steadily grown.

Minnesota’s producer responsibility bill for packaging and paper products bill will benefit from the experiences of states that have been working with the Product Stewardship Institute to develop similar legislation and will contribute to the nationwide groundswell of activity in support of a more just and sustainable waste management system.

Timeline for the producer responsibility policy in Minnesota

Phase I: November 2021 to May 2022

A committee with representatives from local government, the state, industry, and environmental groups convened to develop and draft elements of a producer responsibility bill for packaging and paper products customized to Minnesota.

Phase II: June 2022 to June 2023

A series of stakeholder meetings were held in summer 2022 to solicit feedback on the draft elements of the producer responsibility bill for packaging and paper products. Additional meetings were held through May 2023 to refine the draft elements of an extended producer responsibility bill.

Phase III: June 2023 to May 2024

A bill will be developed in late 2023 that incorporates feedback from continued stakeholder meetings. The bill will be introduced during the 2024 Minnesota legislative session.

Learn more

Visit reducepackagingmn.org to learn more and get the latest updates.

Also see the following documents:

If you have questions about this effort, would like to request a presentation, or want to submit feedback, contact info@reducepackagingmn.org.

Revising recycling ordinance 13

Hennepin County is in the process of revising its recycling ordinance (ordinance #13 source separation of solid waste). This revision process was initiated when the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners adopted the Solid Waste Management Master Plan in November 2017.

Potential ordinance revisions

Key provisions being considered include:

Requirements for businesses that generate large quantities of food waste to implement food recycling by 2020.
Requirements for cities to offer curbside organics recycling service to residents by 2022.
Updates to the multifamily recycling requirements to add service level standards and education and labeling requirements.
Requirements for businesses to meet the state recycling requirements, service level standards, and labeling requirements.

Ordinance revisions

Board to consider adoption of ordinance revisions

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners has referred the recycling ordinance revision to the Public Works Committee for deliberation on Thursday, November 15, 2018.

Completed engagement efforts

Public hearing – October 2, 2018

A public hearing on the proposed revision to Ordinance 13 was held before the Public Works Committee of the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners on October 2, 2018. The opportunity to testify at the hearing or provide written comments was communicated broadly to residents, cities, trade associations, and businesses. The county sent letters about the hearing to 16,000 potentially affected businesses.

See the summary of the public hearing (PDF).

Public comment period – July 2018 through August 2018

The county distributed its draft revisions to the recycling ordinance on July 23, 2018, to seek input from cities, businesses, waste haulers and others that may be affected by the ordinance revisions. The ordinance 13 public comment findings report (PDF) provides a summary of the 350 comments received on the proposed language of the ordinance revisions. Staff reviewed the comments and made edits to the ordinance based on this feedback.

Stakeholder input process

From December 2017 through April 2018, county staff engaged city representatives, trade associations, waste haulers, property managers, businesses and the broader community to seek input on the ordinance language.

See the recycling ordinance #13: public engagement findings report (PDF) for a summary of the public engagement activities and key findings from this effort.

Email notifications

Timeline

Key tasks and the associated timelines for this effort include:

Stakeholder engagement: January to April 2018
Draft ordinance revisions: March to May 2018
Recommendations presented by staff to board at a briefing: July 2018
Solicited feedback from stakeholders on ordinance language: August 2018
The county board held a public hearing to receive testimony from the public: October 2018
After the public hearing, additional edits are being made to the ordinance before the final version is submitted to the board. Board deliberation and potential approval of the ordinance revisions is anticipated to be in November 2018.

Waste studies

Food rescue in Hennepin County

Hennepin County conducted research in 2022 to understand the food rescue system in the county. This research included interviews, focus groups, and surveys with organizations involved in the food rescue system and community members who have experienced food insecurity.

Goals were to identify gaps and opportunities to divert more food to people that would otherwise go to waste and increase the food rescue system’s responsiveness to community needs for both highly nutritious and culturally significant food.

Key learnings

Intentionally aligned partnerships between donor organizations and food rescue organizations are fundamental to the success of food rescue efforts.
Although intermediary organizations are key to the current food rescue system, food security organizations have complex and mixed experiences partnering with these organizations.
Staffing and labor are a significant challenge in the food rescue ecosystem.
Supply chain and transportation logistics continue to pose a significant challenge to ensuring the safety and quality of rescued food.
The experiences of community members underscore the need for innovation across the food rescue ecosystem.
Adequate finances and appropriate donations across the food rescue stream are key to the ability to participate in food rescue and meet community members’ needs.
Creative adaptations made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 social uprising identified promising strategies to improve food rescue efforts.

Recommendations for Hennepin County

In the transition to an equitable, zero-waste future, Hennepin County is poised to have a meaningful and transformative impact on the food rescue system. Through engagement and analysis, 14 strategies were identified for the county to pursue to ensure this impact. These strategies fit into the following recommendations:

Expand on-the-ground support for donor organizations to operationalize and improve food rescue efforts in their organizations.
Establish internal and external collaborations focused on continuous improvement of food rescue and county supports.
Leverage data to promote food rescue efforts and identify system-wide improvement opportunities.
Work with food rescue and security partners to implement creative and innovative strategies to enhance food rescue efforts and community impacts.
Embed disparity reduction and racial equity throughout the design and implementation of county strategies.

Learn more

Read the food rescue in Hennepin County report (PDF).

Residential food waste reduction study

Hennepin County conducted a consumer behavior research study in 2021 to design and test optimal messaging strategies to help residents overcome barriers to preventing wasted food. The study utilized focus groups in three distinct cohorts that intentionally received differing levels of communication throughout the study. The purpose was to assess whether varying levels of consumer engagement had an impact on projected behavior change.

Key findings and recommendations

Develop campaign content that appeals to specific demographic groups such as families, singles, older adults, young adults, and children.
Create outreach messaging that is simple, quick to read, and emphasizes money savings as a key motivator.
Emphasize that changing behavior requires addressing multiple behaviors in four specific phases: planning, purchase, preparation, and preservation.
Cultivate key partnerships such as local grocery stores and provide message placement in locations that will reach consumers at each stage of the decision-making process (planning, food acquisition, consumption, and disposal).

Learn more

Read the engaging residents to reduce food waste report (PDF).

Residential waste sort study

Hennepin County conducted a waste sort in 2016 to learn more about what residents are throwing away and what opportunities we are missing to recycle more.

The study involved sorting residential trash from Minneapolis into new categories to get better, more specific information about what could be recycled now but is not, and what opportunities need to be developed to increase recycling in the future.

Key findings

Recycling organic materials is the biggest opportunity to reduce our trash.
Residents are doing a pretty good job of recycling, but there are still opportunities to improve. We could be recycling more paper and cardboard, and people are confused about plastics.
There are opportunities to improve recycling of materials that are not accepted in curbside recycling programs, including clothing, plastic bags and film, electronics, mattresses, and scrap metal.
‬‬Reducing the amount of waste generated is the first place is the most impactful waste management practice, and there is considerable potential to improve waste prevention.

Learn more

Multifamily waste study

Hennepin County conducted a waste study in 2017 to assess how well apartment and condo buildings were recycling. The study looked at the recycling diversion rate, contamination levels in the recycling, and the composition of what was being discarded as trash.

Key findings

Apartment buildings have low recycling rates and high contamination rates
There are significant opportunities to divert more materials from the trash
Service levels are not adequate

Learn more

Read the full multifamily waste study report (PDF).

Construction and demolition waste studies

Reuse and recycling practices at remodeling and renovation projects (2022 - 2023)

A construction and demolition waste study was conducted by Stantec on behalf of Hennepin County in 2022 and 2023. The study aimed to gain insight into reuse and recycling practices at remodeling and renovation projects via interviews with contractors, site visits, and waste management data collection. Remodeling projects for the study were selected using building permit lists provided by the cities of Minneapolis, Edina, and Shorewood.

Contractors were asked a series of questions focused on reuse and recycling practices, barriers to sustainable practices, and suggestions for systemic improvement that would encourage participation. Additionally, contractors were asked to provide waste weight and diversion data associated with the focus project.

Key findings

While many contractors were interested in waste reduction and diversion concepts, there is misinformation and confusion among contractors. Topics of confusion included where and how to give items to reuse organizations, where waste goes after it's put in the mixed-use dumpster, differences between waste vendors, and value, desirability, or viability of items that could be reused.
Most contractors (63%) noted time and cost as largest barrier to building material reuse. This includes time hauling materials off-site and logistics to contact reuse outlets. Other commonly noted barriers included lack of interest from clients and lack of quality (real or perceived) compared to new building materials.
Nearly half (46%) of projects in the study, which were evenly split between commercial and residential, included some form of reuse. Most of the projects (75%) with reuse included reuse on-site through preservation within the current space or removal, restoration, or reinstallation in the same project. One-quarter of projects with reuse sent building materials off-site to salvage organizations or stored them for future projects. Common materials reused included wood flooring, doors, bathroom fixtures, cabinets, and light fixtures.

Learn more

Read the full reuse and recycling practices at remodeling and renovation projects report (PDF)

Capacity for diverting construction and demolition waste through recycling and reuse (2015)

Hennepin County commissioned a study in 2015 to assess the capacity for diverting construction and demolition waste through recycling and reuse of materials. These materials include wood, concrete, cardboard, metals, asphalt shingles, sheetrock, vinyl siding, textiles, carpet, brick and more.

The study found that more than 810,000 tons of construction and demolition materials were generated 2013, and 30 percent of those materials were recycled.

Key findings

The cost of construction and demolition landfill disposal needs to be higher to incentivize higher diversion rates.
There is ample facility capacity in the metro area to collect and process more construction and demolition waste.
Diversion of high value and/or readily reusable residential building materials, including cabinets, fixtures and old growth wood, is generally not optimized, and a significant amount of these materials are being landfilled.
There is a lack of awareness about retail outlets for reused building materials. Physical space to store and sell these materials is one of several barriers to growth of this market.
Deconstruction, a technique that carefully dismantles a building to salvage materials for reuse, can divert up to 90% of the waste material generated from building removal. The practice is used on larger commercial projects, but few contractors currently provide this service for residential properties.

Learn more

See the construction and demolition diversion capacity study (PDF).

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