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10/10/2018 Closure of burner could send Twin Cities trash back to the dump - StarTribune.com <br />http://www.startribune.com/burner-s-closure-could-send-twin-cities-trash-back-to-the-dump/494749151/1/3 <br />NORTH METRO <br />Closure of burner could send Twin Cities <br />trash back to the dump <br />250K tons of waste, including recyclables, would be diverted to <br />landfills if Elk River incinerator closes. <br />By Eric Roper (http://www.startribune.com/eric-roper/62906482/) Star Tribune <br />SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 — 10:50PM <br />A roaring fire that consumes Twin Cities trash every year may soon be extinguished, <br />sending mountains of extra waste into the metro area’s landfills. <br />Great River Energy (GRE) says it will close its Elk River waste-to-energy operation if no <br />one steps forward to buy it by this fall. The two likeliest bidders — Anoka County and <br />Hennepin County — aren’t interested. If the incinerator <br />(https://youtu.be/0IFoQnUVV1s?t=4m37s) and metal recovery facility <br />(https://youtu.be/0IFoQnUVV1s?t=2m44s) close, more than 250,000 tons of extra trash <br />will likely head instead to the region’s landfills. <br />Burying more municipal trash is the opposite of what state environmental officials want <br />(http://www.startribune.com/mpca-pushes-to-keep-twin-cities-trash-burning-at- <br />capacity/411420465/) — they prioritize burning refuse that isn’t recycled or composted. <br />Garbage incineration comes with its own pollution concerns, but state regulators say <br />Minnesota’s burners meet rigorous federal pollution standards while extracting <br />recyclables and energy that are otherwise lost. <br />Plus, they argue, tossing trash in the dump doesn’t make it go away. <br />“The land that’s going to be taken up by landfilling … that’s going to be a legacy we’re <br />going to leave to our grandchildren,” said Sig Scheurle, planning director with the <br />Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). <br />The other primary trash incinerators that <br />serve the metro area are already operating at <br />capacity. Twin Cities trash that doesn’t get <br />burned ends up mainly at four landfills in <br />Elk River, Burnsville, Inver Grove Heights <br />and Glencoe. They took in a million cubic <br />yards of compacted municipal trash last <br />year, enough to fill the IDS Center tower <br />about 1.5 times <br />(http://www.startribune.com/how-much- <br />garbage-is-that/493999731/) , according to a <br />Star Tribune analysis of MPCA data. <br />If Great River Energy shuts down its burner, <br />state regulators expect the four landfills to <br />reach their permitted capacity in just over six <br />years — more than two years earlier than <br />anticipated — since haulers will have few <br />other alternatives. Landfills must ask the <br />state for additional allowed space, and two <br />have already indicated they will. <br />“As much as anybody, I would love to see the <br />plant stay in operation and do the <br />environmentally responsible thing and avoid <br />landfills,” Anoka County Commissioner Jim <br />Kordiak said at a recent board discussion. <br />“But there are too many pitfalls.” <br />Despite the state’s emphasis on incineration vs. landfilling, the economics of GRE’s <br />trash-to-energy project have become unsustainable. Anoka County helped create the <br />facility in the 1980s and, along with two other counties, subsidized the incinerator for <br />years so it could compete with cheaper landfills. <br />B R I A N P E T E R S O N – STA R T R I B U N E(http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/1538358869_08+100683 <br />Waste Management's Burnsville landll