Mr. Mueller, I notice that you haven't mentioned shutting down the Red Wing
RDF facility near you, which also burns refuse to generate electricity.
I'm also surprised that you seem to prefer the landfilling that has
replaced the Elk River RDF facility.
As someone who has performed many, many waste sorts in Minnesota, I would
like to know how you would have the following items safely and effectively
disposed of if incineration technologies (mass burn and RDF) and landfills
are not alternatives::
Adult diapers (in my observation the fastest growing tonnage segment since
2005), children's diapers, feminine sanitary products, male and female
birth control products
Toothbrushes, razors, brushes and combs, Q-tips, band aids, wound
dressings, diabetes supplies, and other "home" health debris
Blood and vomit stained clothing, underclothes, socks, vermin-infested
bedding and clothing
Non-recyclable plastics including toys, large storage containers, PVC pipe,
Tupperware and other food storage containers, food tubes (think Go-gurt or
tomato paste), etc.
Foam mattresses and mattress padding, beyond-repairable upholstered and
wooden furniture
Drywall, green-treated construction debris, toilets, sinks, Formica and
other counters, electrical construction debris (wiring, switches, sockets,
fixtures), roofing rubbers and felts
Ceramic cups, mugs, plates, glass candle holders, drinking glasses, and
various decorative wall and shelf art or collectable objects
Refrigerated and frozen food packaging, expanded or molded polystyrene egg
or meat trays and food and beverage containers, any "#7" plastic material
"Crinkle" film plastics (chip bags, cereal box sleeves, pet food bags, etc.)
Broken vacuum cleaners, swiffers, brooms, moldy sponges and toilet wands
and other cleaning stuff
Non-metallic car parts (fenders, windows, seats, etc. (and yes, these are
put in garbage carts)
Dead things (flat squirrels, Fluffy, trapped mice and rats, ant traps,
roach motels)
Yes, my list of undesirable, unrecyclable and un-reusable materials could
go on much further....
I have been doing waste and recyclables sorts in several states since
1979. I have experience in operating a large city-wide solid waste*
management* program, and have been active in SWANA locally and
nationally. I teach composting classes to a variety of groups and
organizations. I was an author of the League of Women Voters (national)
"Rational Fear" education programs on household hazardous wastes. I am
personally a low-waste practitioner, taking less than one 20 gallon bag of
trash to my local transfer station every 6 months. I understand, however,
that a real-world solid waste management system must deal with the majority
of humans, who are driven to find the easiest and most convenient (low
energy expenditure) process of living (Please refer to findings re:
Evolutionary and Behavioral Ecology). These humans demanded, for instance,
single stream recycling containers which despite assertive education
programs by cities and haulers have become (as predicted) second garbage
containers. Organics composting programs which supply carts at no addental
cost to residents have less than 50% participation and with the exception
of drop-off programs, also suffer from contamination issues. Contamination
of recyclables makes it very difficult to market materials....even in good
market conditions. One can suggest finely-tuned sorting of the stuff in
recycling carts, but even the almost magical mechanical sorting systems
available today are not capable of completely and accurately separating the
plastics grades acceptable to markets, or removing all film plastic
imbedded between paper and similar flat fractions. The need for
ever-improving sort systems and low market demand has resulted in tipping
fees for single stream recycling which are higher than the tipping fees at
mass-burn or RDF facilities, and very significantly higher than landfill
disposal. These costs must compete for the same dollars that citizens
demand be used for better streets, lower health care costs, lower class
sizes and education gap reduction, transit options and parks and trails.
Using economic tactics to drive behaviors would logically predict that
waste should be expensive, but I have seen people drive 10 miles to save a
$20 disposal fee an dump an unwanted mattress. Elected officials
understand that most voters are not willing to pay high prices to dispose
of things they no longer want, which is why there are few fully enterprise
(un-subsidized) garbage programs nationwide.
As I said, my personal practices reflect an up-close understanding of the
life cycle of stuff and my commitment to a low impact lifestyle. My
professional life has been dedicated to protection of public health *and*
the environment by use of multiple collection and disposal practices that
while not perfect, do prevent mounds of debris in streets and alleys, and
minimize vectors of disease and communicable disease wastes in areas of
concentrated human populations. I would welcome your investment and ideas
to develop disposal alternatives to the items I mentioned above, your
assistance to the state in developing additional markets for plastics,
ceramics, glass and the various paper grades so that these items could be
recycled and reused, and your ideas to incentivize people to properly use
the reuse, recycling and disposal alternatives that are available. To say
that if landfills and incineration technologies are just shut down,
alternatives will appear, flies in the face of 2,000 years of human
history. I have seen the real health and environmental disaster that
happens when proper disposal alternatives do not exist. That is not a
scenario that I can support in my region.
Susan Young, Trash Lady at Large
Rest of post
On Wed, May 1, 2019 at 9:49 PM Alan Muller <<email obscured>> wrote:
> Thanks, Jan, for mentioning this again.
>
> When Betsy Hodges first ran, people got active around opposing the
> proposed expansion of garbage burning at the HERC. The expansion was
> stopped. To "punish" Minneapolis, Hennepin County told the city to
> start an organics program. So the outcomes were good in re the HERC.
>
> But momentum was lost. Nobody really followed up adequately with
> Hodges and her people. No serious Zero Waste program
> emerged. Subsequent candidates (including Betsy) weren't made to
> deal with the HERC as an issue, and we haven't seen much progress
> since. To turn something like this around takes sustained focus and
> for whatever reason that's been lacking.
>
> The garbage burner industry has lots of clout in MN and little
> ethics. But note that the Great River Energy garbage burners have
> recently been shut down. There is no reason why the HERC burner
> can't be shut down, and people allowed to breathe cleaner air.....
>
> am
>
> At 05:49 PM 4/27/2019 -0500, you wrote:
> >It is way past the time to look at this ongoing pollution of our city
> >(and world). If Minneapolis really wants to be on the map in a
> >leadership role, it should start talking about what a truly
> >sustainable city might look like. Unfortunately, Minneapolis seems to
> >be going backwards. Of course, if people don't really believe that
> >burning plastic, or "processing" it in any way is a death sentence for
> >nature, we can just let things continue on.
> >
> >We might want to think of one of the emerging economic "trends" in our
> >city as a center for sports spectacles. Think of all the garbage that
> >will be generated by the Super Bowl crowd, enjoying the hospitality
> >and all the services of the city for ten days. That's a lot of
> >garbage!
> >
> >Alan Muller has stated the facts. The crux of the matter is to start
> >moving to a more sustainable existence in Minneapolis.
> >
> >
> >
> >On Wed, Nov 1, 2017 at 7:14 PM, Alan Muller <<email obscured>> wrote:
> > > We need to DEMAND that our Minneapolis mayoral and city council
> > > candidates PLEDGE now to phase out/ shut down one of our dirtiest
> > > local polluters:
> > >
> > > Hennepin County's HERC garbage burner is a dirty old 1980's cash cow,
> > > located in the North Loop neighborhood in downtown Minneapolis, next
> > > to the Twins Stadium.
> > >
> > > HERC is one of Minneapolis/ Hennepin County's worst air polluters,
> > > and it's air emissions permit is long-expired.
> > >
> > > 75 percent of the garbage going in is generated in Minneapolis.
> > >
> > > The health-damaging smokestack emissions total close to 2 million
> > > pounds per year and include dioxin (a major carcinogen and key
> > > component in the toxic Agent Orange herbicide), mercury, lead, fine
> > > particles, carbon monoxide, "NOx," other heavy metals, and dozens of
> > > other hazardous pollutants. Depending on weather conditions these
> > > emissions impact many City neighborhoods and beyond..
> > >
> > > Minneapolis residents, especially poorer residents, are the main
> > > victims of HERC air pollution, as has been shown by the maps produced
> > > by Rep. Karen Clark and others. These maps were prominently displayed
> > > at City Planning Commission meetings and at City Council meetings
> > > during deliberation and rejection of expanded HERC burning, and are
> > > available on line and from Clark.
> > >
> > > Despite a sophisticated public relations effort and an abundance of
> > > "alternative facts" by Hennepin County, Covanta, and others, our
> > > burned garbage doesn't magically disappear and isn't "converted into
> > > electricity." Some call incineration "landfilling in the sky."
> > >
> > > The remaining ash (about 25% of the original garbage by weight), is
> > > toxic and is taken to a special local ash dump.
> > >
> > > Two key problems, linked, obstruct progress of Minneapolis towards
> > > being a truly (as opposed to rhetorically) clean, healthy, and
> > > sustainable city.
> > >
> > > One is the chokehold that Xcel Energy has on officials and policies,
> > > leading to ever-increasing electric rates (while the wholesale price
> > > of electricity drops!) and near-meaningless "partnerships" rather
> > > than real moves towards cleaner energy.
> > >
> > > The other is our friend the HERC.
> > >
> > > On the face of things the key bad actor behind the HERC is Hennepin
> > > County, owner of the burner and joined at the hip to the garbage
> > > incineration industry.
> > >
> > > But the less obvious nexus of these two evils is that Xcel itself is
> > > in the garbage burning business, owning and operating dirty old
> > > burners in Red Wing, Mankato, and French Island (WI). We don't know
> > > of any other major electric utility in the garbage burning business,
> > > except for Great River Energy, also in Minnesota.
> > >
> > > Xcel's three company-owned burners very likely produce the most
> > > expensive and unhealthy power on it's system, except, perhaps for
> > > purchased dirty-burner power.
> > >
> > > We now have unusual leverage to help phase out/shut down HERC:
> > >
> > > The HERC generates a little electricity, which is sold to Xcel under
> > > a "Power Purchase Agreement." Xcel Energy has opened a docket at the
> > > Public Utilities Commission, (E002/M-17-532) for consideration of
> > > extending the HERC Power Purchase Agreement--which expires at the end
> > > of 2017--at a much lower price.
> > >
> > > Xcel's purchase agreement with the HERC is estimated by the
> > > Department of Commerce to cost about DOUBLE the cost per megawatt
> > > hour of wholesale "system" power in the Upper Midwest. So Xcel's
> > > involvement in burning garbage/buying garbage electricity tends to
> > > inflate electric bills as well as degrading air quality.
> > >
> > > Our leverage:
> > >
> > > The HERC "PPA" with Xcel *expires* at the end of 2017. Since
> > > electricity sales are a significant revenue source for garbage burner
> > > operators, we have here a great opportunity to save money and improve
> > > public health by allowing the HERC PPA with Xcel to *expire* at the
> > > end of December.
> > >
> > > As noted above, there is a docket about this before the MN Public
> > > Utilities Commission. I have submitted comments and Neighbors Against
> > > the Burner has petitioned to intervene. Xcel's proposal is to extend
> > > the contract but at a reduced rate. NAB is looking towards no
> > > extension "at any rate." This would be a strong push towards a
> > HERC shutdown.
> > >
> > > Four years ago, before the last cycle of Minneapolis municipal
> > > elections, that proposal to burn more garbage at the HERC became an
> > > election issue. The Sierra Club, MPIRG (Minnesota Public Interest
> > > Research Group), and others worked doggedly against the expansion
> > > scheme with the result that after the elections it was clear that
> > > there were not the votes on the City Council to approve more burning.
> > >
> > > A mayor was elected who said she opposed more burning and supported
> > > Zero Waste objectives. The expansion proposal was withdrawn,
> > > resentfully, by Hennepin County, which, as intended punishment--but
> > > really a very good thing!--told Minneapolis to collect "organics."
> > >
> > > Now, however, we are in another Mpls election cycle and the silence
> > > about the HERC and better waste management is deafening.
> > >
> > > In April of 2016 an anti-HERC coalition of multiple groups was loudly
> > > announced, but nothing ever came of it.
> > >
> > > Sierra, for example, didn't even include a HERC or Zero Waste
> > > question in it's candidate recent questionnaire.
> > >
> > > Recently the City rolled out a feeble "Zero Waste Plan" that I
> > > commented on in an earlier post. Candidates who have,to their credit,
> > > mentioned the HERC include Ray Dehn and Gary Schiff.
> > >
> > > As election day draws near, what do the rest of the mayoral and
> > > council candidates have to say about HERC, Xcel, "Zero Waste," and a
> > > truly green, sustainable, and healthy Minneapolis?
> > >
> > > What's happened? Hard to be sure, but:
> > >
> > > Both Xcel and Hennepin County are extraordinarily effective at
> > > lobbying and getting their way, as is Covanta, the contract operator
> > > of the HERC. Some would say they are all skilled manipulators of
> > > "alternative facts" in their attempts to greenwash a dirty old
> > > dinosaur of a garbage burning plant, a relic of the 1980's.
> > >
> > > As with many issues today, now is the time to stand up. Now, before
> > > the election, is the time to let candidates know what you think, and
> > > for candidates to declare what they think.
> > >
> > > Alan Muller, for
> > > Neighbors Against the Burner
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Alan Muller
> > > N/A, Red Wing, MN
> > > About/contact Alan Muller: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/alanmuller
> > >
> > >
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> > >
> > >
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>
> Alan Muller
> N/A, Red Wing, MN
> About/contact Alan Muller: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/alanmuller
>
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