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South‑metro counties press for regional policy and funding as recycling goals, MPCA rules and waste‑to‑energy pressures collide
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Summary
Dakota and Scott county staff briefed commissioners on recycling targets, state MPCA policy requirements and a shortfall in state funding (SCORE) while noting the metro area lacks nearby waste‑to‑energy capacity; staff proposed renewed regional coordination and legislative advocacy.
County environmental and physical‑development staff told commissioners the twin goals of raising recycling rates (a 75% metro target by 2030) and meeting MPCA policy plan requirements are creating fiscal and operational pressure. Dakota and Scott are currently recycling at roughly 55% and 52%, respectively, short of the metro goal, and staff said available state SCORE funding covers a minority of needed program costs.
George Fisher, Dakota’s physical development director, described how the metropolitan MPCA policy plan prescribes several costly strategies — grants for reuse and repair, food‑service transitions and other programs — and noted implementation carries fiscal consequences at the county level. “We have to be talking to [the MPCA] all the time because if they go down a road that we don’t like, there’s really no way for us to stop them,” he said.
Staff also raised the lack of nearby waste‑to‑energy capacity for the south‑metro region. They said most waste currently travels out of Scott County to landfills in Dakota and beyond; available waste‑to‑energy facilities either do not accept metro waste or operate at capacity. Building regional waste‑to‑energy or anaerobic‑digestion facilities would require large capital outlays (staff cited multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar figures for full facilities), and counties discussed the legal limits on designating waste flows and the requirement that designated flows go to public processing facilities.
Commissioners and staff suggested several near‑term priorities: re‑establishing a regional coordinating forum to influence MPCA policy, jointly lobbying for SCORE formula changes or supplemental funding, exploring joint procurement for aerial imagery and shared household hazardous‑waste programs, and evaluating whether a regional approach to organics collection and processing is feasible under current law. Staff will return with specific cost models and recommended legislative asks.
