Skip to main content
An official website of Hennepin County, Minnesota
Hennepin county

Projects and initiatives

Solid waste planning

Hennepin County has a goal of diverting 90% or more of waste from landfills or incinerators

The county's solid waste management plan outlines our strategies for meeting these goals. The annual recycling progress report provides updates on our efforts and highlights our commitment to making progress toward our goals.

In addition, the county establishes ordinances that govern solid waste management and conducts research to support solid waste planning initiatives.

Annual recycling progress report

Hennepin County’s annual recycling progress report provides an update on the county’s zero-waste accomplishments, progress toward waste diversion goals, and results from waste reduction and recycling programs.

2025 Recycling progress report (PDF, 3MB)

2025 detailed program results appendix (PDF, 1MB)

2025 key numbers

  • Recycling rate increased from 41% to 50%, achieving a diversion rate that puts us in standing with long-time zero-waste leaders, who divert 50% to 60% of waste
  • Food donation increased by 50%
  • Business and residential organics recycling increased by 15%

2025 key accomplishments

  • Increased food rescue and prevented food waste
  • Made organics recycling available to residents countywide
  • Launched Swap-It events
  • Funded community-led zero-waste projects
  • Got more businesses to recycle or donate food

Solid waste management plan

Hennepin County, like all metro area counties, must submit a county-specific plan to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) that implements the Metro Solid Waste Policy Plan goals to reduce waste, increase recycling, and abate landfilling. The Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Plan complies with statutory mandates and covers solid waste planning for a 20-year period.   

The county’s plan was adopted by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners and submitted to the MPCA on October 29, 2024.

2024 Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Plan (PDF, 1MB)

Strategies included in the plan

The foundation of this plan is the county’s Zero Waste Plan, developed in 2023 to meet the county’s goal of diverting 90% or more of waste from landfills or incinerators. The county further prioritized the highest impact zero-waste actions in the Plan to Reinvent Hennepin County’s Solid Waste System to accelerate the closure and repurposing of the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). 

To facilitate public involvement in the development of the county solid waste plan, staff built from the broad base of learning from the development of the Zero Waste Plan, gathered further input on the implementation of prioritized zero-waste actions with cities and haulers, conducted a representative survey of county residents about their opinions on recycling programs and level of support for zero-waste actions, and leveraged existing outreach opportunities with partners, such as the Trusted Messengers participants.

A draft of the plan was made available for public comment between August 13 and September 4, 2024. The county received 86 comments from cities, environmental advocacy groups and residents.

Key findings from public feedback and a summary of changes made to the plan based on feedback is available at BeHeardHennepin.org/solid-waste-plan.

Supporting materials

The following supporting materials provide more context and in-depth information for the plan:

Reinventing the solid waste system

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners heard a board briefing and discussion on Thursday, January 25, 2024, on a plan to reinvent the county’s solid waste system. This briefing responds to the resolution passed on October 24, 2023, to develop a closure plan for the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC).

Hennepin County plans to aggressively pursue zero-waste policies, programming, and infrastructure and advocate for policy changes at the state level to move toward zero waste and make meaningful progress toward reducing climate emissions.

The briefing laid out the 12 highest priority zero-waste actions. These include:

  • Passing an extended producer responsibility law at the state legislature to require producers of packaging to take responsibility for that packaging all the way from design to recycling or safe disposal.
  • Securing adequate funding for zero-waste initiatives by using all revenue from the state’s solid waste management tax on waste management activities.
  • Banning recyclable materials, such as cardboard or mattresses, and organic materials like food scraps from landfills.
  • Recovering recyclable and organic materials from the trash by developing a recycling recovery facility, which would use a variety of technologies to sort cardboard, metal, some plastics, and organics materials from the trash for reuse or recycling.

A zero-waste dashboard was introduced at the briefing to define the criteria to be met to responsibly close HERC and to identify 22 policies that need to be accomplished by the state legislature to realize this zero-waste future. The four metrics – recycling rate, percent of food and other biogenic materials in the trash, waste generated per capita, and landfill rates – will be tracked and reported on annually.

See the following materials developed in response to the board resolution:

The HERC and its role in the solid waste system report

A report was prepared for the county board to provide information and context related to decision-making for the 2024 Solid Waste Management Plan, HERC, community concerns, and a provision in the state legislature’s 2023 infrastructure bill that the county must submit a plan for the cessation of operations at HERC to access the $26 million appropriated for the construction of an anaerobic digester.

HERC and its role in the solid waste system report (PDF, 2MB)

Zero Waste Plan


Hennepin County is committed to achieving a zero-waste future where all materials are designed to become resources for others to use, the volume and toxicity of waste and materials is systematically eliminated, and all resources are conserved and recovered and not burned or buried.

The county has defined zero waste as preventing 90% or more of all discarded materials from being landfilled or incinerated. The Zero Waste Plan was finalized in 2023 after an extensive public engagement process. The 62 actions in the Zero Waste Plan are designed to collectively move the county as close as possible to the goal of zero waste.

Zero waste plan (PDF, 3MB)

Wasted food prevention plan

Wasted food prevention plan and target

Hennepin County’s Wasted Food Prevention Plan (PDF, 5MB) establishes a target to cut the amount of edible food discarded in half and provides a roadmap to reach this target. The plan includes 44 strategies that will have an impact on reducing wasted food overall as well as in residential, commercial, schools, and food rescue sectors.

Preventing wasted food is a county priority. It’s a foundational strategy of the county’s Climate Action Plan, supports increased food security, which is a pillar of the county’s disparity reduction health domain, and is a top action to accelerate a zero-waste future and reinvent our solid waste system.

The plan is the first of its kind in the country because it focuses solely on preventing wasted food rather than relying on composting to divert food from the trash. 

The problem with food waste

About 40% of food is wasted somewhere along the supply chain in the U.S. Wasted food has both upstream and downstream impacts, from the energy used to grow, transport, process, and refrigerate it to the methane generated when food waste is landfilled.

The amount of food, particularly edible food, that is wasted represents an opportunity to significantly reduce waste, better use resources, take action on climate change, and address food insecurity.

Research that informed plan development

Current food system analysis 

A first step in developing the Wasted Food Prevention Plan was researching the current system to understand the flow of food and food waste in and out of the county, assess programs and policies related to reducing food waste, and examine what other communities are doing to set targets and reduce food waste. 

Current food system report (PDF, 3MB)

Food rescue in Hennepin County

Hennepin County conducted research in 2022 to understand the food rescue system in the county. This research included interviews, focus groups, and surveys with organizations involved in the food rescue system and community members who have experienced food insecurity.

Goals were to identify gaps and opportunities to divert more food to people that would otherwise go to waste and increase the food rescue system’s responsiveness to community needs for both highly nutritious and culturally significant food.

Food rescue report (PDF, 3MB)

Residential food waste consumer behavior research

Hennepin County conducted a consumer behavior research study in 2021 to design and test optimal messaging strategies to help residents overcome barriers to preventing wasted food. 

The study utilized focus groups in three distinct cohorts that intentionally received differing levels of communication throughout the study. The purpose was to assess whether varying levels of consumer engagement had an impact on projected behavior change.

Engaging residents to reduce food waste report (PDF, 3MB)

Recycling requirements and solid waste management fee

Recycling requirements: Ordinance 13

Hennepin County revised its recycling ordinance on November 27, 2018.

Recycling for Hennepin County ordinance

Solid waste management fee: Ordinance 15

The Hennepin County Solid Waste Management Fee: Ordinance 15 was established in 1994 to fund environmental programs that protect human and environmental health. These programs include waste prevention, recycling and organics recycling, environmental education, and environmental protection programs.

The ordinance requires waste haulers to charge a fee on trash service and remit this fee to the county. The fee is not applied to recycling or organics recycling services.

Solid waste management fee ordinance

Percentage rate for solid waste management fee

Effective April 1, 2019, the percentage rate of the Solid Waste Management Fee for all mixed waste services provided in Hennepin County:

  • Residential rate: 15.5%
  • Nonresidential rate change: 21.5%
Rate questions

For questions about how this rate is applied, please contact your waste hauler or Hennepin County staff:

Waste studies

Food rescue in Hennepin County

Hennepin County conducted research in 2022 to understand the food rescue system in the county. This research included interviews, focus groups, and surveys with organizations involved in the food rescue system and community members who have experienced food insecurity.

Goals were to identify gaps and opportunities to divert more food to people that would otherwise go to waste and increase the food rescue system’s responsiveness to community needs for both highly nutritious and culturally significant food.

Key learnings

  • Intentionally aligned partnerships between donor organizations and food rescue organizations are fundamental to the success of food rescue efforts.
  • Although intermediary organizations are key to the current food rescue system, food security organizations have complex and mixed experiences partnering with these organizations.
  • Staffing and labor are a significant challenge in the food rescue ecosystem.
  • Supply chain and transportation logistics continue to pose a significant challenge to ensuring the safety and quality of rescued food.
  • The experiences of community members underscore the need for innovation across the food rescue ecosystem.
  • Adequate finances and appropriate donations across the food rescue stream are key to the ability to participate in food rescue and meet community members’ needs.
  • Creative adaptations made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 social uprising identified promising strategies to improve food rescue efforts.

Recommendations for Hennepin County

In the transition to an equitable, zero-waste future, Hennepin County is poised to have a meaningful and transformative impact on the food rescue system. Through engagement and analysis, 14 strategies were identified for the county to pursue to ensure this impact. These strategies fit into the following recommendations:

  • Expand on-the-ground support for donor organizations to operationalize and improve food rescue efforts in their organizations.
  • Establish internal and external collaborations focused on continuous improvement of food rescue and county supports.
  • Leverage data to promote food rescue efforts and identify system-wide improvement opportunities.
  • Work with food rescue and security partners to implement creative and innovative strategies to enhance food rescue efforts and community impacts.
  • Embed disparity reduction and racial equity throughout the design and implementation of county strategies.

Learn more

Food rescue in Hennepin County report (PDF, 3MB)

Residential food waste reduction study

Hennepin County conducted a consumer behavior research study in 2021 to design and test optimal messaging strategies to help residents overcome barriers to preventing wasted food. The study utilized focus groups in three distinct cohorts that intentionally received differing levels of communication throughout the study. The purpose was to assess whether varying levels of consumer engagement had an impact on projected behavior change.

Key findings and recommendations

  • Develop campaign content that appeals to specific demographic groups such as families, singles, older adults, young adults, and children.
  • Create outreach messaging that is simple, quick to read, and emphasizes money savings as a key motivator.
  • Emphasize that changing behavior requires addressing multiple behaviors in four specific phases: planning, purchase, preparation, and preservation.
  • Cultivate key partnerships such as local grocery stores and provide message placement in locations that will reach consumers at each stage of the decision-making process (planning, food acquisition, consumption, and disposal).

Learn more

Engaging residents to reduce food waste report (PDF, 3MB)

Residential waste sort study

Hennepin County conducted a waste sort in 2016 to learn more about what residents are throwing away and what opportunities we are missing to recycle more.

The study involved sorting residential trash from Minneapolis into new categories to get better, more specific information about what could be recycled now but is not, and what opportunities need to be developed to increase recycling in the future.

Key findings

  • Recycling organic materials is the biggest opportunity to reduce our trash.
  • Residents are doing a pretty good job of recycling, but there are still opportunities to improve. We could be recycling more paper and cardboard, and people are confused about plastics.
  • There are opportunities to improve recycling of materials that are not accepted in curbside recycling programs, including clothing, plastic bags and film, electronics, mattresses, and scrap metal.
  • ‬‬Reducing the amount of waste generated is the first place is the most impactful waste management practice, and there is considerable potential to improve waste prevention.

Learn more

Multifamily waste study

Hennepin County conducted a waste study in 2017 to assess how well apartment and condo buildings were recycling. The study looked at the recycling diversion rate, contamination levels in the recycling, and the composition of what was being discarded as trash.

Key findings

  • Apartment buildings have low recycling rates and high contamination rates
  • There are significant opportunities to divert more materials from the trash
  • Service levels are not adequate

Learn more

Full multifamily waste study report (PDF, 5MB)

Construction and demolition waste studies

Reuse and recycling practices at remodeling and renovation projects (2022 - 2023)

A construction and demolition waste study was conducted by Stantec on behalf of Hennepin County in 2022 and 2023. The study aimed to gain insight into reuse and recycling practices at remodeling and renovation projects via interviews with contractors, site visits, and waste management data collection. Remodeling projects for the study were selected using building permit lists provided by the cities of Minneapolis, Edina, and Shorewood.

Contractors were asked a series of questions focused on reuse and recycling practices, barriers to sustainable practices, and suggestions for systemic improvement that would encourage participation. Additionally, contractors were asked to provide waste weight and diversion data associated with the focus project. 

Key findings
  • While many contractors were interested in waste reduction and diversion concepts, there is misinformation and confusion among contractors. Topics of confusion included where and how to give items to reuse organizations, where waste goes after it's put in the mixed-use dumpster, differences between waste vendors, and value, desirability, or viability of items that could be reused.
  • Most contractors (63%) noted time and cost as largest barrier to building material reuse. This includes time hauling materials off-site and logistics to contact reuse outlets. Other commonly noted barriers included lack of interest from clients and lack of quality (real or perceived) compared to new building materials.
  • Nearly half (46%) of projects in the study, which were evenly split between commercial and residential, included some form of reuse. Most of the projects (75%) with reuse included reuse on-site through preservation within the current space or removal, restoration, or reinstallation in the same project. One-quarter of projects with reuse sent building materials off-site to salvage organizations or stored them for future projects. Common materials reused included wood flooring, doors, bathroom fixtures, cabinets, and light fixtures. 
Learn more

Reuse and recycling practices at remodeling and renovation projects report (PDF, 1MB)

Capacity for diverting construction and demolition waste through recycling and reuse (2015)

Hennepin County commissioned a study in 2015 to assess the capacity for diverting construction and demolition waste through recycling and reuse of materials. These materials include wood, concrete, cardboard, metals, asphalt shingles, sheetrock, vinyl siding, textiles, carpet, brick and more.

The study found that more than 810,000 tons of construction and demolition materials were generated 2013, and 30 percent of those materials were recycled.

Key findings
  • The cost of construction and demolition landfill disposal needs to be higher to incentivize higher diversion rates.
  • There is ample facility capacity in the metro area to collect and process more construction and demolition waste.
  • Diversion of high value and/or readily reusable residential building materials, including cabinets, fixtures and old growth wood, is generally not optimized, and a significant amount of these materials are being landfilled.
  • There is a lack of awareness about retail outlets for reused building materials. Physical space to store and sell these materials is one of several barriers to growth of this market.
  • Deconstruction, a technique that carefully dismantles a building to salvage materials for reuse, can divert up to 90% of the waste material generated from building removal. The practice is used on larger commercial projects, but few contractors currently provide this service for residential properties.
Learn more

Construction and demolition diversion capacity study (PDF, 2MB)

Related pages

Contact

Environment and Energy