Booming development in Minneapolis and across the Twin Cities has come with a largely hidden price: tons of demolition and construction waste being sent to landfills.
State pollution regulators estimate that construction sites in Minnesota generate roughly the same amount of landfill material as traditional municipal waste does every year. A burgeoning industry has sprung up in recent years to recycle or resell that debris, but local policymakers are now eyeing regulations to help capture even more of it.
"We can compost our little our hearts out, but it's not going to equate to the dumpster on the street," said Minneapolis City Council Member Linea Palmisano, who represents a southwest Minneapolis ward where 35 homes were torn down this year — many of them sent to landfills.
Trucks hauling loads of concrete, cardboard, bricks, wood and insulation are arriving constantly at north Minneapolis' Atomic Recycling, one of a handful of local companies that will sort through the construction waste for recyclables.
"I don't think anyone's been this busy," said vice president Brian Pieti, beside a mountain of debris in the company's 45,000-square-foot hangar.
As part of Mayor Betsy Hodges' Zero Waste initiative, Minneapolis is examining rules from other cities to encourage or require recycling of construction and demolition waste. Chicago, for example, requires contractors to recycle 50 percent of all recyclable waste, such as concrete, drywall, shingles, plumbing fixtures and glass. Cook County set it at 70 percent in the surrounding suburbs and applied it to more property types.
The issue is only growing more prominent as the economy improves, apartments rise and people remodel or replace their homes.
"If you look around Minneapolis … you know this is going to be a growing piece of our waste picture going forward," said Stephanie Zawistowski, Hodges' sustainability policy aide.