The fate of odd recyclables, from decking to motorcyle parts, on display at Minnesota State Fair

If you go to the Minnesota State Fair, you can see a life-size, whirling tornado composed of discarded grocery bags yanked from landfills.

The “bagnado,” as organizers of the Eco Experience exhibit call it, has a serious message: Recycling is needed now more than ever for the environment, and recycled goods are fueling a growing $10.2 billion industry in Minnesota.

In 2023, Minnesotans threw out 1 million tons of trash, worth $6.2 billion, that could have been recycled, including thousands of plastic bags, said Wayne Gjerde, recycling market coordinator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

“Minnesotans throw away 600 tons of plastic packaging and grocery bags every day. That’s 222,000 tons of bags that would have a potential market value of $35.5 million,” Gjerde said last week. Nearby, the exhibit was being completed with displays of new products that Polaris, Toro, Par Aide and Harley Davidson made with the help of recycled materials.

Gjerde has been MPCA’s person in charge of finding new markets for industrial and consumer waste streams for 30 years and still finds it “crazy” that Minnesotans send 1 million tons of recyclable items to landfills, incinerators and out into the environment.

This year’s Eco Experience, like in other years, is showing how a “circular economy” works, with recycled products.

More than 330 Minnesota companies use recycled items as raw materials to make new products that generate $10.2 billion in value; 27,348 direct jobs; 50,800 indirect jobs; $8 billion in wages, and $565 million in taxes for Minnesota’s economy every year.

These include large corporations, but also Bicycle Glass in Fridley, Anchor Glass in Shakopee, Emma Crutcher in Minneapolis and Avon Plastics in Paynesville, said MPCA spokesman Stephen Mikkelson.

Avon makes materials for decks and fences from the plastic that used to be in Tide, Suave and Dove bottles, milk jugs and grocery bags, he said.

Near the Avon products at Eco Experience are two hefty pallets of shiny aluminum ingots displayed by Spectro Alloys, made from old aluminum hubcaps, siding and industrial scrap. Those ingots then become parts for products like as Harley Davidson motorcycles, boat motors, Polaris ATVs and snowmobiles and Par Aide machines that wash golf balls, said Luke Palen, Spectro’s CEO. “Sharing our recycling process with the community has been an incredibly special experience, especially getting to do it at the Great Minnesota Get-together,” Palen said. “Spectro Alloys recycles about 45,000 pounds of aluminum every hour. And we’ve processed nearly 6 billion pounds of the metal since our inception in 1973.”

Next year Spectro Alloys opens a new $71 million factory addition in Rosemount, which will let it take in and process post-consumer cans for the first time.

“We’re pretty excited,” Palen said. “Right now, the recycling rate for cans is pretty low, at 45 percent or so.”

New optical sorters and other equipment arrive soon, he said. So will 50 additional workers, who will make Spectro’s headcount about 200 people.

“It’s a new product line for us, and we are super excited about it,” he said. The new product will likely be displayed at next year’s state fair.

All told, reusing old stuff creates more than 72,000 factory, design, shipping and retail jobs in Minnesota, Gjerde said while checking out Cool Trash’s charcuterie boards, GlassArt countertops and Bicycle Glass’ artful bowls and lights.

In Fridley, David Royce, his business partner Michael Boyd and 20 employees at Bicycle Glass are excited to show their wares at this year’s fair. The company turns ground-up beer and soda bottles, pickle jars and wine bottles into hand-blown bowls and light pendants.

Royce said the business uses 2 to 3 tons of glass a month, and all is post-consumer waste.

Eight years ago, the shop consisted of just Royce and Boyd. Today, it has 20 workers making more than $20 an hour.

“The best thing to do is to recycle. Don’t put it in your trash. Put it in the recycling bin because it prevents it from going into landfills and it sustains jobs,” Royce said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

To recycle plastic grocery bags and shrink wrap, collection bins are available inside stores including Target, Walmart and Cub Foods.