Recycling Progress Report On the path to zero waste landfilled

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1 Recycling Progress Report On the path to zero waste landfilled April 2018

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3 Contents Introduction...4 Progress toward goals Overview of results....7 Residential recycling and organics Business recycling and organics recycling Other recycling initiatives Waste reduction and reuse Household hazardous waste Education and outreach Challenges and opportunities Moving forward 2018 strategies RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 3

4 Introduction The Recycling Progress Report provides an update on progress toward Hennepin County s waste diversion goals and a summary of the for the county s waste management programs. This report also contains excerpts from the county s Solid Waste Management Master Plan, which is intended to guide waste management in the county through The latest master plan was adopted by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners in November. The planning process In 2016, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) approved a new solid waste management policy plan to set objectives for 2020 and establish a framework for meeting the statutory goal to recycle 75 percent by State statute requires metropolitan counties to prepare master plans every six years that identify strategies to meet the recycling goals and objectives in the state s Metropolitan Solid Waste Management Policy Plan. The policy plan was adopted by the Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on April 6,, and establishes the framework for managing solid waste in the metro area through Hennepin County developed its 2018 Solid Waste Management Master Plan to reach the goal of recycling 75 percent of waste by The master plan demonstrates the county s commitment to conserving natural resources, protecting the environment and ensuring public health and safety. The county is a national and regional leader in environmental management. The county has received national recognition for the Choose to Reuse program and other innovative waste prevention work. The county s Master Recycler/Composter program, Fix-it Clinics, environmental partners program, recycling grants and education resources have been replicated by many others. The county is also acknowledged nationally for leadership in organics recycling development, household hazardous waste programs and education campaigns. The master plan was developed with the goal of maintaining and strengthening this leadership position. Learn more about the master plan at hennepin.us/solidwasteplanning. 4 RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT

5 Progress toward goals The county has made steady progress toward state goals, diverting 81 percent of waste from landfills in. This is a rate on par with national leaders. The county has made positive progress in reducing landfilling, increasing the processing of waste through waste-to-energy, and increasing recycling since 2010; however, there is still a ways to go to reach the 2030 goals. What s changed since the last plan in 2012 Improved recycling services One-sort, materials added, public space recycling, container signage Expanded organics Minneapolis, St. Louis Park Launched new waste reduction efforts Fix-it Clinics, Master Recyclers, Zero Waste Challenge, move out and bulky waste Offered grants, resources and incentives Businesses, schools, apartments, public spaces Enhanced education Recycle Everywhere, Choose to Reuse, Save the Food, Green Partners grants Over the past six years, the county has made progress on the path to sending zero waste to landfills. The most noteworthy accomplishments include: Minneapolis moved to one-sort recycling More materials are accepted in curbside recycling programs There are more recycling options at parks and events Signage on waste containers is better and more consistent St. Louis Park started residential organics recycling service in 2013 and Minneapolis followed in 2015 The county started the business recycling grant program, Fix-It Clinics, the Master Recycler/Composter volunteer program, the Zero Waste Challenge, and the move out and bulky waste pilot program at multifamily properties The Recycle Everywhere campaign reached wide audiences over five years The Green Partners environmental education program strengthened collaboration with community groups Innovative programs started by the county have been duplicated across the Twin Cities metropolitian area. RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 5

6 Incremental progress With these efforts, progress toward our recycling goals has shown incremental but positive trends. Landfilling is down, and more trash now goes to processing facilities that produce energy and recover metal for recycling. Recycling has inched up about 1 percent every year even though changes in the waste stream have made progress more difficult. Reasons for this include that digital devices have displaced print media, packaging materials are lighter, and there are more non-recyclable plastics. In other words, there is less recyclable material per ton of waste generated, and it takes more recycling just to maintain the same recycling rate. The diversion rate of organic materials has been flat for several reasons. The majority of organic materials is yard waste, which has a diversion rate that remains fairly consistent from year to year. Organics diverted to composting has increased significantly due to new business and residential organics recycling programs. However, those gains have been offset by decreasing participation in food-to-animals programs that recover bakery and cereal grain by-products to make livestock feed. Overall, there is plenty of room for improvement on organics diversion, and waste sorts repeatedly show that organics are the most common material in the trash. 81% of waste diverted from landfills in Landfilling Positive progress: 11% reduction 30% 2010 Recycling 2030 goal: 1% Positive progress: 6% increase 35% 25% % 21% % % 38% 18% % 17% % 18% % 41% 41% Waste-to-energy Positive progress: 6% increase 25% % 2011 Organics 32% % goal: 24% Limited progress: 1% decrease 35% % % 31% % 10% 10% 10% 9% 9% 9% 9% goal: 60% 2030 goal: 15% 6 RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT

7 Overview of results Waste generation Hennepin County s goal is to reduce waste by 6 percent by Waste reduction and reuse programs focus on preventing the creation of waste in the first place and encouraging reuse. Reuse actions include renting, borrowing, repairing, buying used, donating usable goods, consigning, exchanging, trading, or giving an item away. Waste reduction and reuse have many benefits, including preventing pollution, saving energy, promoting sustainable living, avoiding disposal, and using materials to their fullest extent. Historically, a stronger economy and increases in employment have been correlated with more waste generation. Recently, waste generation - both overall and per capita - has remained flat or slightly decreased as the economy improves. This is a positive trend. About 1.4 million tons of solid waste was generated in Hennepin County in, which is nearly the same as last year. Waste generation per capita in the county has decreased by 20 percent since 2007, which is a much greater decrease than the national reduction of about 4 percent since Waste generation in Hennepin County Pounds per capita Resource recovery There are two options for managing waste that remains after recycling and organics recycling: burning it to generate energy or burying it in a landfill. Processing waste to generate energy is environmentally preferable to landfilling and provides the opportunity to recover metal for recycling. In, 459,000 tons of waste generated in Hennepin County were processed at the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, Ramsey/Washington Recycling and Energy Center in Newport, and Great River Energy Elk River Energy Recovery Station. Recycling Recycling remained steady at 41 percent in. Progress has been gradual because of several trends: newspaper in the waste stream has declined rapidly, packaging materials have gotten lighter, there is increasingly more non-recyclable plastic in the waste stream, and current market conditions for recycling are challenging. In other words, there are less recyclables by weight per ton of waste generated, so better and more recycling is required to maintain the same recycling rate. 50% Recycling rate over the years Organics recycling Organics recycling, excluding yard waste, remained at 3 percent in. Although organics recycling is often associated with one recycling option composting more than 50 percent of the organics collected in Hennepin County in were diverted to food-to-animals programs. These programs involve diverting food waste to hog farmers or animalfeed processors. The organics recycling rate has remained flat because increases in composting have been offset by decreases in food-to-animals programs. The amount of organics managed through food-toanimals programs stabilized in 2016 and increased in, reversing a long-term decline. The tons of organics collected for composting decreased by in due to a combination of factors, including efforts to reduce contamination. Changes in the management of organics 2010 Food-to-animal feed 46% Compost 22% Food-to-hogs 32% % % 20% 10% Food-to-animal feed 27% Compost 42% % Food-to-hogs 31% RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 7

8 Residential recycling and organics Residential recycling Although trends in the waste industry indicate that residential recycling, which is measured in pounds per household per year, should be decreasing, the amount of materials recycled actually increased slightly in. Waste industry trends that impact residential recycling include the decrease in waste generation per capita, changes in the material mix of the waste stream, reduction in the weight of packaging materials, and increased contamination in recycling. To offset these trends, people need to recycle more materials to maintain the recycling rate. The last big increase in residential recycling occurred when programs, including the City of Minneapolis, switched to single-sort recycling in Performance of residential recycling has since leveled off. To support residential recycling programs, the county continues to partner with cities to distribute recycling guides and other messages about recycling. The county also continues to monitor and adapt educational messages and materials to changing industry trends, such as the perception that recycling is too expensive and the increased focus on quality over quantity. Assisted cities with promotional efforts and sending recycling guides to residents. Cities used county terminology and images and provided recycling messages through a variety of channels including direct mail, newsletters, websites, social media, and city events. The county also distributed residential recycling labels and factsheets on various environmental topics. Provided technical assistance to cities on recycling RFPs and contracts. City recycling contracts allow cities to communicate consistent educational messages, provide a variety of resources, and deliver the best overall price for service. Of the 44 cities in the county, 42 contract for recycling service Residential recycling performance Total tons Pounds per household RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT

9 Residential organics recycling Residential organics recycling, which involves collecting and recycling food scraps and non-recyclable paper into compost, increased by 40 percent in. Minneapolis and St. Louis Park have continued to increase participation in their curbside organics recycling programs, as have several other smaller cities. Organics recycling service is still not widely available throughout the county. Although 100 percent of singlefamily households have recycling service, only about 15 percent have organics recycling service. That percentage will increase as new programs are implemented and cities increase promotion of existing programs Residential organics Tons collected Over 52,000 households participated in curbside organics recycling programs throughout the county. The county provided $720,000 in SCORE funding to 28 cities for the purpose of increasing organics diversion. Cities intend to use the funding in a variety of ways, including to promote their programs, increase educational efforts, offset the cost of service, and provide supplies such as compostable bags and kitchen pails to participants. Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Wayzata, and Medina led the way in percentage of households participating by spreading the cost of organics to all households with other waste services so that households can opt in to organics at no additional cost. St. Louis Park almost doubled participation by changing their program so that there is no extra cost to participate. St. Louis Park also added three organics drop-off sites to serve residents without access to the city s curbside program, such as residents living in apartment buildings and townhomes. Minneapolis organics collection increased by almost 1,400 tons in. Minneapolis accounts for almost 90 percent of the total residential organics collected. Households participating in residential organics recycling by city City Households participating Minneapolis 46,228 43% St. Louis Park 3,596 29% Medina % Wayzata % St. Bonifacius 86 10% Osseo 41 7% Medicine Lake 37 22% Maple Plain 35 4% Loretto 16 6% Multiple other cities 1,215 Totals 52, ,000: households in Hennepin County with residential recycling service 52,000: household in Hennepin County with residential organics recycling service Residential organics Household participation rate 15% = Households with organics recycling service Participation rate % = Households without organics recycling service RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 9

10 Business recycling and organics recycling Success stories A little more than half of the waste in the county is generated by businesses and organizations, and as of January 1, 2016, most commercial buildings in the county are required to recycle under state law. Hennepin County has provided $2 million in grants since fall 2013 as well as technical assistance and education materials to businesses and non-profit organizations as an incentive to implement and improve recycling and organics recycling efforts. Businesses who have received grants have successfully increased the amount of materials they divert from the trash. In addition to offering grants and technical assistance, the county began recognizing businesses and organizations for their efforts to recycle and divert organic waste from the trash through the Hennepin County Environmental Partners program in County staff provide onsite assistance to potential partners to ensure they are using best management practices for their recycling and organics recycling programs. Participating businesses receive decals and other outreach materials and are listed in an online directory on the Hennepin County website. The program helps businesses communicate to their customers that they care about the environment, and the online directory provides residents a way to find and support businesses that are taking action to protect the environment. The county will continue to track the recycling results of organizations that receive grants, while the MPCA has assumed responsibility for measuring overall commercial recycling. On average, businesses receiving recycling grants increase their waste diversion to 54 percent. 10 RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT Awarded $490,175 to 71 organizations. The demand for the grants was high, and all grant funding was distributed after two funding rounds. Distributed more than 17,000 signs and stickers to label recycling, organics recycling and trash containers. Assisted more than 60 businesses along Lake Street in implementing or improving recycling programs through an ongoing partnership with the Lake Street Council that targets the diverse business community, many of which are Latino-owned. Designed signage with culturally relevant images and Spanish-translated language to pilot with Lake Street businesses. Increased program participation in Environmental Partners to more than 200 businesses. Organics for composting Comida Papel manchado de comida Productos compostables SP-17 Spanish Busque los logotipos de BPI o Cedar Grove o el término compostable en los productos certificados. Culturally relevant signage created with Lake Street Council Oracle & International Centre, managed by Wildamere Capital Management, reduced their trash from 25 to 30 tons per month to 15 to 20 tons per month after adding organics recycling at their downtown Minneapolis office building. Tenants are enthusiastic about being able to compost. The project was funded by a Hennepin County recycling grant. Cub Foods in Brooklyn Center received a business recycling grant from the county to start organics recycling. In just the first six months of the project, the store diverted 89 tons of organics for composting. With the success of the Brooklyn Center store, seven additional Jerry s franchise-owned Cub Foods stores throughout Hennepin County have begun or are scheduled to start organics recycling in 2018 through a second grant

11 Other recycling initiatives School recycling The county has provided assistance and grants to schools for recycling and organics recycling since More than 160 of the 350 schools in the county collect organics for composting. School staff and students are educated on waste reduction and recycling through presentations, free recycling signage, and bi-monthly school recycling meetings. Multifamily recycling A variety of resources, educational materials and staff assistance are available to help property managers educate residents on what is recyclable and improve recycling rates at multifamily properties. The county is also focusing on increasing reuse by partnering with local reuse retailers to collect reusable materials from residents on-site at multifamily complexes. Provided assistance to improve recycling to almost 13,000 multifamily units in 73 properties. Continued the bulky waste reuse program to collect reusable material during move in and move out times, diverting more than 71,000 pounds of material for reuse since the program began in Public space recycling Hennepin County makes portable recycling containers available for event organizers to borrow at no cost to add recycling and organics recycling at events. The county also provides container labels to improve recycling in public spaces such as parks, recreation centers and business districts. Loaned recycling containers to 90 events with a total attendance of more than 800,000 people. Organics were collected at 87 percent of those events. Created and produced container labels to help the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board expand recycling service in parks and along trails. Multifamily outreach program Number of units served Use of portable recycling units Awarded more than $144,000 in grants to 19 schools to start or improve recycling and organics recycling programs. Presented lessons on waste reduction, recycling, and organics recycling to 2,840 students in 95 classrooms. Delivered 160 cubic yards of free compost in partnership with the Mulch Store to 41 schools that collect organics to close the loop Number of events borrowing containers Estimated total number of attendees Held five school recycling meetings during the school year for staff and volunteers to learn about waste management best practices and sustainability. Meetings include presentations from school recycling grant recipients as well as guest speakers. In fall, school recycling meeting attendees toured the Brooklyn Park Transfer Station. RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 11

12 Master Recycler/Composter volunteers Master Recycler/Composter volunteers learn about waste prevention, recycling and composting from industry experts and tours of waste processing facilities during a six-week course. They then commit to volunteering 30 hours inspiring others in their communities to reduce waste, recycle more and compost through activities such as answering questions at events and designing and implementing waste reduction and recycling projects. Backyard composting In order to increase backyard composting, Hennepin County Environment and Energy partners with Hennepin County Sentencing to Service to build compost bins from cedar and wire mesh. Trained an additional 63 Master Recycler/Composter volunteers. Sold 271 compost bins at five community events and at the drop-off facility in Brooklyn Park, where compost bins are available year-round. 558 Master Recycler/Composters trained to date 7,010 Volunteer hours contributed 12 RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT

13 Waste reduction and reuse Hennepin County offers programs like the annual Choose to Reuse campaign and monthly Fix-It Clinics to encourage waste reduction and reuse. To reach its waste reduction goals, the county also plans to target specific materials that represented the largest percentage of reusable goods found in the trash, including food waste, wood, textiles, furniture and household goods. Choose to Reuse Hennepin County encourages residents to support local reuse, rental, and repair retailers through the Choose to Reuse program, which includes the online Choose to Reuse Directory and annual coupon book. The Choose to Reuse Directory was upgraded and re-launched in the winter of. The new directory includes a searchable database of over 500 reuse business locations in and around Hennepin County, a listing of local events, featured businesses, and Spotlight on Reuse articles. About 8,600 coupons were redeemed during the Choose to Reuse campaign. The Choose to Reuse campaign included 57 participating retailers at 84 retail locations. Fix-It Clinics Fix-It Clinics provide residents the opportunity to get free, guided assistance from volunteers with repair skills on disassembling, troubleshooting and fixing their broken household items, including appliances, clothing, electronics, mobile devices and more. Fix-It Clinics teach valuable repair skills, build community connections, and reduce the number of repairable objects that are thrown in the trash. Held monthly Fix-It Clinics with an average attendance of 73 people per clinic. Repaired 991 items 80 percent of the items brought in keeping 6,906 pounds of material out of the trash. Fix-it Clinic results to date (since 2013) 64 clinics 4,499 items fixed 78% of items fixed 7,006 hours volunteered Food waste reduction As much as 40 percent of food produced for human consumption goes uneaten in the U.S. for many reasons. Of that wasted food, 43 percent is generated by consumers and 40 percent is generated by restaurants, grocery stores and foodservice businesses. Both residents and businesses play a significant role in preventing and reducing food waste in our communities. Developed a fact sheet to help people understand expiration, best buy and sell by dates and become more familiar with food preservation techniques such as proper storage and freezing. Supported the Ad Council s Save the Food campaign by obtaining free advertising throughout Hennepin County of billboards, bus wrap ads, and even movie theater advertisements. Worked with partners to rescue and preserve more than 3,000 pounds of excess produce from farmers markets for distribution to food shelves in the winter. Success stories The Food Group, a local food bank, and Taher Inc., a local foodservice management company, partnered to process, freeze and store rescued produce in the summer to be distributed to food shelves in the winter. The pilot project was supported by a grant from Hennepin County. A total of 3,317 pounds of produce were processed into 2,382 pounds of useable product. RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 13

14 Zero Waste Challenge The Zero Waste Challenge launched in September 2016 with the enrollment of 50 households in a year-long waste reduction challenge. Participating households agreed to weigh and report their waste weekly, attend at least three waste reduction workshops on a variety of topics, and adopt new low-waste behaviors. In return, each household has a staff liaison that works closely with them to identify areas for waste reduction and diversion. Success is when you create change and for our family, the Zero Waste Challenge has created awareness, its created change, and it will have a long lasting impact. It was definitely a successful challenge for our family. - the DeCamillis family 35 households with a total of 130 people completed the pilot challenge. Households reduced their total waste by 20 percent and achieved an average diversion rate of 62 percent. Almost half of the households started diverting organics for composting. Individual household achieved some impressive results. The highest diversion rate achieved by a participating household was 96 percent, and the greatest improvement in diversion was a household that started at 16 percent and ended at 40 percent. The lowest total waste achieved by a household was 1.47 pounds per person per day. This is significantly lower than the national average of 4.44 pounds per person per day. And one household reduced their total waste generation by almost half, down to 3.8 pounds per person per day. A survey of participants after the pilot found: 90% recycle more materials 53% choose options with less packaging when shopping 38% started a backyard compost bin 32% switched to reusable containers for food storage 14% started indoor food waste composting with worms Deconstruction and building materials reuse About 70 percent of construction and demolition waste ends up in landfills. Although some materials, including concrete and steel, are separated for recycling at waste transfer stations and landfills, many additional materials have the potential to be reused or recycled. One way to increase diversion of demolition materials is through deconstruction, which involves carefully dismantling a house and finding recycling or reuse opportunities for most of the materials. Contracted with Better Futures Minnesota to fully deconstruct nine homes and partially deconstruct five homes. Bulky item reuse and repair Bulky items, such as furniture and other household goods, can be difficult to reuse or dispose. Although reuse retailers will take some furniture, the materials accepted are limited to certain items and conditions. Additionally, many people have limited ability to transport bulky items they no longer want to drop-off sites that will take them. The materials often end up at the curb, and items that would have been reusable quickly become trash as they are exposed to the elements. Promoted reuse and repair of bulky items through factsheets and the online Choose to Reuse Directory Worked with multifamily properties and the University of Minnesota to collect reusable material during move in and move out times. 14 RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT

15 Household hazardous waste To ensure proper disposal of hazardous items, the county operates two permanent drop-off facilities in Bloomington and Brooklyn Park where residents can get rid of electronics, appliances and household hazardous wastes. To provide more convenient local disposal options, the county also offers collection events at various sites throughout the county. Additionally, the county collects household batteries at libraries and community centers and provides disposal of medicines at drop boxes and collection events at senior living facilities. Drop-off facilities and events Served more than 131,000 residents and collected more than 3,500 tons of household hazardous waste and problem materials at county drop-off facilities. Served almost 5,500 residents and collected 145 tons of household hazardous waste at seven community collection events held in Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Shorewood and St. Louis Park. Electronics Collected almost 2.6 million pounds of electronic waste. Collected nearly $342,310 in revenue by initiating a $10 recycling fee for computers, laptops and televisions to support the county s efforts to responsibly recycle electronic waste. Medicine Collected nearly 25,000 pounds of medicines, an increase of 6 percent compared to Held 34 medicine collection events at senior living facilities, collecting 422 pounds of medicines. Paint PaintCare partnered with local hardware stores to increase the availability of disposal options for paint. Hennepin County received $674,886 dollars from PaintCare for costs related to paint disposal in. RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 15

16 Education and outreach Hennepin County promotes environmental stewardship by raising awareness about changes in recycling programs, generating excitement about waste reduction and partnering with organizations in the community to motivate behavior change. Residential recycling education Provided customized education and outreach materials for cities, including designing the Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling Services guide and organics outreach materials, taking photos and designing a mailer for the Medina and Wayzata organics recycling programs, and developing an organics recycling guide for the St. Louis Park organics drop-offs. Helped promote city cleanup events. Green Partners Through the Green Partners Environmental Education program, Hennepin County provides funding, activities supplies, field trip transportation and project support to organizations that empower residents to reduce waste and increase recycling. Partnered with 81 community groups to provide environmental education by providing grants, supplies and field trip transportation. These projects engaged more than 15,000 people. Many of these partner organizations reach underserved populations, including youth, seniors, multicultural residents and low-income individuals. We have partnered with 7 community groups through a pilot project focused on increasing participation in curbside organics recycling through peer-to-peer outreach. The participating organizations are projected to reach 28,250 residents through direct engagement, workshops, tabling at events, social and print media. Hosted 4 networking meetings to showcase the county s educational resources and the department s services. These meetings were attended by representatives of numerous community groups. Updated the county s environmental education activity guides and learning trunks based on feedback gathered from partners. Of the 133 Green Partners grants awarded since 2012: 73% of projects have worked with youth audiences 70% of projects have worked with underserved and historically marginalized communities 16 RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT

17 Outreach and communication efforts Outreach efforts engage our community and partners in developing the knowledge, skills, attitudes and motivation to work individually and collectively towards sustaining a healthy environment. Reached more than 3,884 residents at 53 community events where the county conducted outreach or staffed an education table. Provided 44 tours of the Hennepin County Drop-off Facility in Brooklyn Park and the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center to 749 participants. Promoted the Green Disposal Guide, an online guide to help residents find information on the best way to recycle, reuse or dispose of household items. The guide was visited by 61,215 unique users in. Provided multicultural communications by translating pieces of literature into languages including Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese. Provided NatureFest, an environmental education field day for more than 450 fifth graders from five schools at the Three Rivers Park District s Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park. During the field trip, students determined the health of the river, caught insects in sweep nets, and decorated reusable water bottles with their pledge to protect the environment. Summarized and presented the results from our envisioning the future of environmental education for youth conversations and survey. Gathered additional feedback from partners on the results and developed our strategies for moving forward. RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 17

18 Challenges and opportunities Trends in waste management Hennepin County s ability to meet its recycling goals is impacted by trends in the waste management and recycling industries. Those trends include changes in the material mix, packaging getting lighter, processing costs increasing, and volatile commodity prices. The evolving ton The change in material mix known as the evolving ton is particularly challenging. There are less traditional recyclables by weight per ton of waste generated. Plastics, which have become increasingly prevalent in the waste stream, are light and take up a lot of space. Food waste continues to increase, but few people have the opportunity to participate in organics recycling. Meanwhile, the amount of paper in the waste stream continues to decline. All of these changes mean that people need to recycle more and better in order to maintain or increase the recycling rate. 18 RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT What it takes to get to 75% The county realizes that continued progress will require a detailed understanding of what is in the trash and what can realistically be recovered. The county conducted a residential waste sort at the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) in May 2016 to support a data-driven approach to policy and program development. The study found that achieving a residential recycling rate in excess of 60 percent is not realistic even with aggressive capture rate assumptions at levels that have never before been achieved. The study did not make conclusions about diversion of commercial waste, which has a higher proportion of recyclable and compostable materials. However, the viability of the state goal remains to be demonstrated even with optimistic assumptions about new recovery technologies, the development of new markets, and significant enhancements to collection programs. It has become increasingly clear that weight-based recycling goals alone are an obsolete measure for evaluating overall progress toward sustainable management of materials through waste prevention, reuse, recycling, and energy recovery. Because the realities of the evolving ton limit the usefulness of yearto-year comparisons, weight-based recycling goals on their own also have limited effectiveness for program planning. To address the shortcomings of weight-based recycling goals, Hennepin County has been tracking annual average waste generation per capita, which is the average amount of waste trash, recycling, and organics produced by a county resident in a year. Since 2007, average waste generation per capita in the county has decreased by 20 percent, which is a much greater decrease than the national reduction of about 4 percent since Meanwhile, recycling rates in the county have increased only incrementally during the same period. Although waste generation per capita is also impacted by the evolving ton, it is a more robust and useful measure of what residents and businesses in the county are doing overall to reduce disposal and sustainably manage materials. This measure also accounts for annual increases and decreases in population. Therefore, the county will be placing more focus on waste generation per capita to inform and guide our efforts in the future. Weight-based recycling goals will remain, but they may become secondary goals as the county explores opportunities to use waste generation data to better inform programming. Likewise, the county strongly encourages the state to re-evaluate its weightbased recycling goals, which are not realistic based on the materials found in today s waste streams. The county will continue to track program-level results and report annually on the implementation of the strategies outlined in the master plan. The county will also rely on data collected by the state to evaluate progress toward the objectives established in the policy plan since solid waste haulers and permitted facilities now report directly to the MPCA. This data will be used to calculate recycling, organics recycling, resource recovery, and landfill numbers.

19 Moving forward 2018 strategies Despite the challenges, opportunities to divert materials from the trash still exist. The following strategies will lead diversion efforts to make progress toward state goals: Focus on organics, including increasing organics recycling and reducing food waste Build momentum for waste prevention and reuse Engage residents through outreach and education Serve residents where they are (at home, at work, at school, at events and on-the-go) Promote drop-offs for hazardous waste and additional recyclables Divert construction and demolition waste from trash Recover resources from trash Achieve more through collaboration Lead by example in county operations Learn more about the strategies outlined in the master plan at hennepin.us/solidwasteplanning. Revising the recycling ordinance Hennepin County is in the process of revising its recycling ordinance with a focus on increasing organics recycling. Because organic materials, which includes food, nonrecyclable paper and compostable products, currently make up about 25 percent of the trash, increasing organics recycling is an important step toward meeting the county s goal of recycling 75 percent of waste by Key provisions being considered for the ordinance include requiring businesses that generate large quantities of food waste to start food waste recycling, requiring cities to offer curbside organics recycling service to residents, updating multifamily recycling requirements and incorporating state recycling requirements. County staff are currently reaching out to stakeholders, including city representatives, businesses, trade associations, waste haulers and property owners, to seek input on the ordinance language. Materials will be posted at hennepin.us/solidwasteplanning and residents can sign up to receive notifications with updates and opportunities to provide feedback as the revisions proceed. RECYCLING PROGRESS REPORT 19

20 Hennepin County Environment and Energy hennepin.us