Closing the HERC incinerator is a necessary step toward our zero-waste future

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The Hennepin County Energy Recovery Center (HERC) incinerator is a public health crisis. When a thousand tons of trash a day are burned in downtown Minneapolis, residents breathe the consequences. Lead emissions damage our brains and organs. Minneapolis children develop asthma at some of the highest rates in our state. PFAS chemicals are heated, but not destroyed, spreading airborne “forever chemical” toxins.

That’s why the Minneapolis City Council is calling for its closure by the end of 2027.

Independent science has shown that the HERC contributes to shortened life spans and disease. These risks are borne by communities that already face far more than their share of health burdens.

As the city resolution was debated, powerful arguments came forward — during testimony, council deliberations and in these pages. It’s worthwhile to review the facts: We agree that landfills, both closed and operating, are a chronic problem. While reducing our dependence on landfilling has been a longstanding state goal, we’ve made startlingly little progress in three-plus decades since passage of the Landfill Abatement Act, which was intended to reduce landfilling in the metro area. Hennepin County’s target recycling rate for 2030 is 75%. We’re still at around 40%. Important strides have been made, including steps forward on organics composting and packaging reduction as well as technology that captures methane to mitigate landfills’ contribution to climate change. But we have a long way to go.

Of these two problems, one has an immediate solution: We can shut the HERC down. Many jurisdictions in the U.S. operate solid waste systems without incineration. And continuing in perpetuity to truck our trash to downtown Minneapolis, douse it with fossil (“natural”) gas and set it alight is not a climate solution. The question is not will we close the HERC, rather, it’s when.

Some HERC defenders advocate for delay by arguing that incineration is better than landfills. First, their information is outdated and flawed, completely ignoring health impacts and not factoring in reductions in organic waste going to landfills, which is the cause of methane release. This is why the EPA is currently reviewing its waste hierarchy. Second, the dichotomy is false: Two-thirds of HERC waste coming from Minneapolis can be recycled or composted. And after incineration, about 25% of the original tonnage remains in the form of ash, which typically contains numerous toxic elements (like lead, cadmium, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, etc.) and other contaminants (dioxins, furans, chloride, acids, etc.). This ash is then trucked to another landfill in Rosemount — about 250 tons each day. After kicking the can on landfill abatement for decades and wasting tens of millions of dollars on HERC each year — putting the county into $37-million-plus in debt for HERC repairs — closing the HERC is an opportunity to seriously invest in a zero-waste future.

And the abstract debate ignores a critical reality: Incinerators consistently are placed near poor Black and brown communities like in Newark, Baltimore, Detroit and north Minneapolis.

A zero-waste future is not just a pipe dream. After decades of discussion and research, we know that the road to zero waste is paved with several common-sense policies: Reduce and design for reuse like our survival depends on it. Collect recycling and organics from apartment buildings and commercial buildings. Incentivize compostable packaging. Ban organics in landfills and ban most single-use plastics. Require businesses to stop littering our trash system with waste that could be recycled.

Closing the HERC is a necessary step to fund and incentivize this smarter waste management system. It’s a step we cannot afford to delay, and we applaud the city of Minneapolis’ resolve to support the county’s closure of the HERC. Every day the HERC remains open is another day we choose pollution over public health. Closing the facility can solve the immediate health crisis while galvanizing action on landfill abatement. The sooner we start, the better.

Evan Mulholland is the Healthy Communities program director at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. Margaret Levin is the state director at the Sierra Club North Star Chapter.