MINNEAPOLIS— Mayor Jacob Frey signed a resolution Thursday urging Hennepin County to accelerate the timeline for closing the downtown waste incinerator.
The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, or HERCburns waste and then uses the steam to create energy. But a new state law no longer takes renewable energy into account, commissioners said wants HERC to close as early as 2028.
Built in 1989, the HERC is located right next to Target Field.
“We’ve been talking about closing HERC for a long time, and this brings this closure a little bit to fruition.” Frey said. “We are currently actively implementing a plan to achieve zero waste. We are doing everything we can to accelerate that plan so that we can reach zero waste faster.”
Frey says he wants HERC closed by 2027.
About 40% of all waste in Hennepin County is destroyed by HERC, which manages about 25,000 homes, according to officials. Officials say the recycling rate in Minneapolis is only 35%, meaning if there is no HERC, all the waste has to go elsewhere.
Critics argue the closure will mean more landfills, which would lead to more trucks and higher costs. However, Frey argued that the preferable option is to reduce the amount of waste.
“If you just do the work to understand what is compostable, you can dramatically reduce your own waste stream,” he said.
If and when HERC closes, it will impact approximately 50 full-time employees and another 200 or so contractors.
Jonas Kaplan
