Draft plan available for review

13 Aug 2024

Provide comments on the 2024 Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Plan by September 5

The draft 2024 Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Plan (PDF)(External link) is now available for the public to review. Provide written comments by the solid waste plan comment form.

Next steps

We welcome your thoughts on the strategies included in the plan. Comments submitted by September 5 will be considered by the solid waste plan development team as the plan is finalized.

Staff will develop a summary of the public feedback received and will share a summary of final changes made to the plan based on this feedback.

The plan will then be submitted via a board action request for formal consideration and adoption by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners. The county’s plan must be approved by the board and submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) no later than October 29, 2024.

More about the plan

Metro counties are required to implement the MPCA’s Metro Policy Plan

Hennepin County, like all metro area counties, must submit a county-specific plan that implements the required strategies and various optional strategies in the Metro Solid Waste Policy Plan (PDF) (External link)(metro policy plan). The county-specific plan must address the waste hierarchy to reduce waste, increase recycling, abate landfilling, and advance a zero-waste future. (Minn. Stat. §§ 473.149, 473.803).

The 2024 Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Plan complies with these statutory mandates and covers the next 6 years of solid waste planning.

Accelerate zero waste

The county’s solid waste plan builds on the research, engagement and policy development from the past three years to accelerate zero waste.

Foundations of the solid waste plan includes the county's Climate Action Plan, Zero Waste Plan, and the Plan to Reinvent Hennepin County’s Solid Waste System.

The solid waste plan incorporates the county's prioritized highest impact zero-waste actions to accelerate a zero-waste future (see Section II: Zero-waste priorities, pages 14 - 20).

County-specific responses to each of the MPCA’s Metro Policy Plan strategies

The metro policy plan is prescriptive. It outlines 75 strategies, some of which are required and others are optional and assigned a point value. Each county must develop a plan that incorporates the required strategies and enough optional strategies to reach a minimum of 75 points. Hennepin County's proposed solid waste plan totals 148 points.

The metro policy plan included some strategies and/or details that were not specifically addressed in the county’s zero-waste priorities. These 17 strategies include:

Strategies to implement with cities

  • Make residential curbside organics available in cities with population > 5,000 (required strategy #40)
  • Collect recyclables, organics, and trash on the same day (required strategy #30)
  • Adopt an ordinance with a mandatory consumer charge or ban for single-use (optional strategy #23)
  • Establish a reuse location for residential drop-off and pick-up (optional strategy #26)
  • Establish a curbside set-out day to allow residents to set out used items for reuse (optional strategy #27)

Strategies to implement with other partners

  • Establish mandatory pre-processing of waste (required strategy #36)
  • Develop plans to prevent and manage wood waste (required strategy #45)
  • Develop contingency plans for large facility closures to reduce landfill reliance (required strategy #12)
  • Improve hauler reporting (required strategy #1)
  • Work with retailers on consumer awareness for handling batteries (required strategy #61)
  • Improve recycling data collection at businesses within the county (optional strategy #4)

Strategies specific to county operations

  • Implement a formal sustainable purchasing policy using MPCA guidance (required strategy #16)
  • Implement a green meeting policy (required strategy #21)
  • Require food-derived compost in county construction and landscaping projects (required strategy #55)
  • Expand composting and mulching capacity beyond existing markets (optional strategy #52)
  • Implement a county policy encouraging all county events and food providers use reusable food and beverage service ware (optional strategy #22)
  • Use purchasing guidelines to require environmental product declaration for concrete (optional strategy #71)

Findings from public engagement efforts related to these strategies are included in the draft plan.