Environmental Justice and increasing the use of recycling/composting rather
than garbage incineration and landfillingâHennepin County still appears to be
renewing longer term commitments and investments of public dollars in the
operations of the Downtown Garbage Burner or HERC. The proposals listed here
appear to have been in the works for some time but have all appeared in the
last few weeks. Very difficult for citizens to track them and understand what
they mean for the health and general welfare of Minneapolis residents.
See the 9/30/14 Agenda via this link. Click on the PDF packet attached to the
agenda items for FOUR new proposals. (Unfortunately the PDF links only work
temporarily as their file names changeâmaking it necessary for you to look them
up by number. Very frustrating and time consuming.)
http://board.co.hennepin.mn.us/hcmeetview/
The first proposal is in agenda item 14-0368. The stated goal of the proposal
is for ârecycling nonferrous metals at SKB's landfill in Rosemount. SKB will
subcontract with Gem-Ash Processing, LLC of Orono, Minnesota, to install
mechanical processing equipment to extract ferrous and nonferrous metals from
the ash. The county estimates that approximately 400 tons of additional
nonferrous metals, such as aluminum and copper, will be recycled by this
process. HERC currently recycles about 11,000 tons of ferrous metals each
year.â The explanation goes on to say, "Recycling this much metal will
result in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 3600 times of
carbon dioxide equivalents. In addition, the agreement will generate
approximately $250,000 in additional annual revenue for the Solid Waste
Enterprise fund to support recycling and composting programs." The stated term
of the contract with SKB is 1/1/15-12/31/25âdespite the fact that most of the
HERC contracts with the county and city regarding the Burner expire in 2018.
This proposal was previously discussed at the 9/11/14 County Board meeting and
Commissioner Marion Greene asked direct questions to verify whether this ash
contract could effectively lock the region into producing a required amount of
ash from HERC until 2025. In response, Dave McNary, Assistant Director of
Hennepin County Environmental Services, stated that a three year evaluation
period would include an opt out contingency in case there was a termination or
a change in the current Burner contract. (This contract change could include a
closure of HERC or a staged reduction in the allowable burning capacity and
phasing out of incinerator use as recycling rates go up in Mpls. We donât want
to be ârewardedâ for increasing our city's recycling/composting rates by simply
shipping in more trash from the suburbs to be burned in the middle of the city
so Covanta can get itâs contracted 2 million pounds of refuse per day!)
Commissioner Greene verified this interpretation.
The vote on this proposal was postponed until the next County Board meeting
scheduled 10/14/14.
On the face of it, this rationale doesnât seem to make sense. True Recycling
is the DIVERSION of valuable/reusable resources from incinerators and/or
landfills. Eliminating the combustion processes it takes to incinerate these
valuable metals and other recyclable/compostable discards would eliminate much
more of the carbon emissions than mining charred bits of metal from the ash
dump after they have been incinerated. Metals recovered and sold for recycling
before they are incinerated would be less damaged and seemingly more valuable
because they are more intact and not charred or contaminated/fused with other
potentially toxic substances melted during the incineration process, etc. And
if these metals are so valuableâthen why are we allowing them to be incinerated
in the first place?
But the answer you get may depend on the question you are asking. If you are
asking: What is the best waste/resource management policy from a Public Health,
Environmental Justice, and Environmental Sustainability perspective? You will
probably advocate for getting our recycling and composting rates well above our
traditional 17-20% rate and end the practice of incinerating themâavoiding all
of the nasty emissions and toxic ash and creating more green jobs. But a 2012
incinerator trade article called âMaximizing Metal Recoveryâ asks a different
question.
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/8153/maximizing-metal-recovery
Corporate leaders from Covanta (who runs HERC) and Wheelabrator incineration
multinationals give the business rationale for putting more emphasis on
recovering metals from the refuse and ash âprocessedâ at their facilities as
part of their incinerator operations.
Quoting Mark Lyons, a senior manager at Wheelabrator, âAside from technology,
he notes the importance of metal recovery systems on the economics and
sustainability of EfW [so-called âenergy from wasteâ incinerators] plants.
âWhen most of our facilities originally came online, scrap metal prices were
much lower than they are today,â he says. âSince then, metal prices have
generally trended higher, while electric power rates and disposal fees have
trended lower. TODAY, SCRAP METAL SALES REPRESENT A MUCH MORE SIGNIFICANT
FRACTION OF A FACILITYâS [INCINERATORâS] TOTAL REVENUE.ââ
So if your goal is to make your incinerator operate as profitably as possible
then this article seems to advise that Garbage Burners like HERC should compete
directly with recycling programs for valuable commodities. Alternatively, the
resale of these unburned valuable products collected by recycling programs
could help make recycling more financially self-sustaining and support the
conservation of these resourcesâfor the benefit of the public health of our
citizens, our local economy in terms of green jobs, and the health of our
planet.
We are entering a pivotal period. But if we want a change in how our
recyclable and compostable waste is managed after 2018 then we are going to
have to make our voices heard and soon. The Hennepin County establishment
seems to be assuming that HERC is here for the long term so it is worth
millions of dollars of public reinvestment. What do you think? Let Mayor
Hodges, your council member and your county commissioner know.
~THE OTHER PROPOSALS UP FOR CONSIDERATION that I know nothing about except what
is posted. (See the agenda items for specifics):
-14-0399 Approved on 9/30/14 for NTE (Not to Exceed) $3-5 million for a "plume
abatement system" at HERC.
-14-0395. NTE $1.5 million for NOX abatement equipment at HERC to be voted by
the Hennepin County Board on 10/14/14.
-14-0392. Contract for SKB to manage transfer station refuse for HERC until
12/31/19. âEstimated annual expense $250,000.â Scheduled to be voted on
10/14/14.