The Minneapolis-area county hopes to reduce pressure on two composting centers and area landfills by establishing the facility.
Hennepin County Minnesota has set a goal of recycling 75 percent of its waste and sending zero waste to landfills by 2030.
Part of that plan is building an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility in Brooklyn Park near the county’s transfer station at 9401 83rd Avenue.
The Hennepin County Anaerobic Digestion Facility and Eco-Center will be capable of processing 25,000 tons per year of organics, according to the county's website.
Hennepin County Waste Reduction and Recycling Supervisor Ben Knudson says the county hopes to award a contract for the design and construction of the AD facility later this year or in early 2023.
Although there are plans germinating in other counties to establish an AD facility serving residents and businesses, Knudson says the Brooklyn Park facility could be a first.
“I think there are maybe a few [AD facilities] in Minnesota that are more agriculture-based, but as far as diverting organics and food waste from residential streams, this would be unique in the area,” he says. “Ramsey and Washington counties—they’re actually moving forward with plans for anaerobic digestion facilities, too.”
The AD facility should lighten the load of two nearby composting facilities, as well as landfills which the state of Minnesota indicates require an additional 6 million tons of capacity over the next seven years, he says.
“The two compost sites are bumping up against their capacity, too,” Knudson says. “If we step back and look at the metro area, there’s a lot of pressure on existing options, and it would be nice to add some capacity to the system.”
To divert as much as possible from landfill, Knudson says the county has been working with area businesses and residents to separate recyclable and compostable material from waste in the residential and commercial markets.
“The county board adopted a climate action plan in 2021,” he says. “Hennepin County is in the process of developing a zero waste plan, and we see anaerobic digestion as something that can help us make progress toward our climate action goals and our zero waste goals.”
Fueling the need for an AD facility are 77,000 residents and businesses that participate in an organics recycling program, according to an overview of the process and facility. Currently, organics comprise about 30 percent of the county’s waste.
The facility will produce biogas that can be used as an energy source in a variety of areas and digestate, a soil amendment.
In addition to diverting waste from landfills and the two area composting facilities that are nearing capacity, the AD facility will also cut transportation costs and greenhouse gas emissions because the composting facilities require 40- to 50-mile drives, the county says.
The Hennepin County Anaerobic Digestion Facility and Eco-Center also will provide educational experiences, house a green jobs learning center, include an on-site urban farm and greenhouses and deliver healthy food to the county's hunger relief partners.
The Cincinnati-based grocer plans to increase recyclable packaging and decrease food waste.
Kroger Co., a leading grocer based in Cincinnati, has updated its environmental, social and governance (ESG) action plan to support its comprehensive strategy. “We live to our purpose—to feed the human spirit—through Kroger’s commitments to advance positive impacts for people and our planet and create more resilient global systems,” Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen says. “We are proud to report that Kroger continues to make progress toward key ESG goals. I am especially proud of the Kroger team’s collective effort to create communities free from hunger and food waste.” As part of the Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative, Kroger has directed 2.3 billion meals to communities, including $1 billion in charitable support and 500 million pounds of surplus fresh food rescued from Kroger stores to help end hunger. In addition to the Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative, Kroger says it is progressing toward key goals in packaging, climate impact, human capital management, human rights and animal welfare.
Kroger has completed an initial packaging baseline assessment to establish a plan to achieve its 2030 sustainable packaging goals, which include 100 percent recyclable, reusable and/or compostable “Our Brands” packaging by 2030. The baseline focused on grocery and fresh food products, as well as health, beauty, household supplies and cleaning items. Baseline findings show that 40 percent of in-scope “Our Brands” product packaging meets the company’s definition of recyclable today when measured by weight.
Related story: Kroger joins Sustainable Packaging Coalition
Kroger committed to set a more aggressive greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target aligned with the requirements of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The company’s current 2030 goal is aligned with a well-below 2 C climate scenario; however, given the urgency for greater climate action, the goal will be strengthened to support a 1.5 C climate scenario. Kroger will also set a new Scope 3 goal for supply chain emissions reduction as part of its SBTi commitment The company says it will share a detailed project roadmap for achieving the current GHG reduction goal by the end of the 2022 fiscal year.
Kroger’s family of companies continues to offer accessible employment and economic advancement opportunities for more than 400,000 people across the U.S. Kroger has invested an incremental $1.2 billion in associate compensation and benefits since 2018, raising the average hourly rate to over $17/hour and over $21/hour when comprehensive benefits like health care and pensions are included.
Kroger recently updated its Human Rights Policy to align with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The company says it is developing a comprehensive human rights due diligence framework and implementation roadmap aligned with the UNGPs. This work will continue through 2022. Kroger also recently launched its first human rights impact assessment.
Kroger updated its Animal Welfare Policy and shared a detailed Animal Welfare Update to outline progress to date and road maps for future milestones. The company says it hopes to source 100 percent of its fresh pork from suppliers that house sows in group housing systems by 2025. It also hopes to 70 percent cage-free eggs by 2030. “With this updated action plan, we are seeking to address a wide range of complex social and environmental challenges, and setting ambitious impact targets,” says Keith Dailey, Kroger’s group vice president of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer. “These commitments express Kroger’s aspiration to make affordable fresh food even more accessible while advancing positive impacts for our communities and the planet.” Kroger is integrating its ESG commitments into various operational workflows and developing a culture of shared values with “positive outcomes for all stakeholders, Dailey adds.
For additional information visit Kroger’s ESG HUB, ESG Strategy: Thriving Together.
According to the report, SWACO reported a 51 percent diversion rate, which it says is among the highest rates in the Midwest.
The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO), Grove City, Ohio, has published its annual Community Impact Report providing insights into local disposal trends at the landfill and updates on collaborations with schools, nonprofits, local governments and other organizations to improve recycling and increase food waste diversion opportunities.
According to the report, there was a 51 percent waste diversion rate, which SWACO says is one of the highest rates in the Midwest.
“While we still have a way to go in order to reach our goal to divert 75 percent of all waste stream materials from the landfill by 2032, the reported numbers show we continue to make progress,” says Joe Lombardi, executive director for SWACO. “Our region’s progress is a direct result of the tireless efforts of numerous public and private partners working together to create a safer, healthier and greener community.”
Residential food waste diversion and recycling programs yield big results
The Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative, a collaborative group focused on food waste prevention and led by SWACO, created the Save More Than Food (SMTF) campaign in 2020 to help cut Central Ohio’s food waste in half by 2030. As part of this program, SWACO received a $60,000 federal grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study food waste behaviors and the positive benefits public education campaigns like SMTF can have.
Last year, funding from the grant supported partnerships between SWACO, Upper Arlington, Ohio and The Ohio State University to study the behaviors of hundreds of households before and after receiving food waste reduction, prevention and composting materials. Not only did the residents of Upper Arlington capture and divert 138,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill. The study also documented:
21 percent of households reduced the amount of food waste they created; and
40 percent increase in the use of the city’s food waste drop-off program.
SWACO has also partnered with 10 local communities to expand the food waste drop-off program and today, 29 percent of Franklin County residents report composting food or yard waste at home, at the curb or through a drop-off program.
In addition to food waste diversion efforts, SWACO says it has continued to help improve the infrastructure of curbside recycling programs in municipalities across the county. For example, in 2021, SWACO worked with Whitehall, Ohio, to transition homeowners to a volume-based trash and recycling collection program that incentivized households to reduce trash bills by recycling more. The results are impressive:
95 percent participation in the curbside recycling program compared to 26 percent in 2020;
85 percent increase in the amount of material recycled; and
In Gahanna, Ohio, SWACO partnered with the city to implement Feet on the Street, a national program from The Recycling Partnership which uses a team of community-based observers to visit each resident’s recycling cart to provide tailored feedback on how to improve recycling. As a result, the city saw a 45 percent reduction in the number of items incorrectly placed in Gahanna’s curbside recycling program.
In 2021, SWACO expanded its Drop-Off Recycling program, adding new drop-off locations at the Whitehall, Winchester, Ohio, and Columbus, Ohio. The program collected one million pounds of recyclables every month. SWACO also piloted new options for recycling at multifamily housing complexes intended to provide greater access to recycling for families living in apartments and condos.
New resources provide incentives for businesses to recycle
In 2021, SWACO says it hired staff dedicated to helping Central Ohio businesses, one of the largest generators of landfill materials, improve and expand their recycling programs. This included the piloting of a new incentive program which helped to jump-start recycling at two local businesses:
The King Arts Complex used SWACO’s Business Tool Kit to audit its waste stream to better understand the type of waste being generated. Then, with SWACO’s support, purchased recycling containers and installed educational signage detailing what the program accepts. As a result, they now recycle two cubic yards of material each week.
Zipline Logistics worked with SWACO to switch from plastic and other nonrecyclable breakroom items to reusable glassware and mugs. SWACO and Zipline are also working to implement a recycling program to capture plastic bottles and metal cans. In the first month of the pilot, Zipline collected one cubic yard of materials, diverting the equivalent of 200 gallons of milk from the landfill.
Grant programs and dedicated resources help partners reach sustainability goals
SWACO says it continues to offer a variety of grants to help area schools, universities, local governments and nonprofit organizations reach their sustainability goals. Last year, SWACO awarded more than $264,000 in grants to help partners reach their waste diversion goals. One of the grant programs supported more than a dozen partners and helped divert more than 440,000 pounds of recyclables and compost from the landfill.
SWACO also offers several other programs for local organizations, like schools, to meet their sustainability goals. In 2021, SWACO partnered with five local schools to provide technical guidance on setting up new or improving existing recycling programs. SWACO provided participating schools with new recycling containers and proper recycling signage to ensure the program’s success and engage students in the recycling activities as part of a school’s green team.
Safe and responsible waste disposal
In 2021, SWACO says it handled 49,000 more tons of waste material than in the previous year despite labor shortages faced by industries across the board. SWACO also generated nearly $8.5 million in revenue from the sale of renewable landfill gas, helping reduce emissions and heat 13,000 area homes.
Next year, SWACO will be joined by BQ Energy, AEP and Columbus to break ground on Columbus Solar Park, a 50-megawatt solar array that will generate enough renewable energy to power more than 5,000 homes when it opens in late 2023.
View the entire Community Impact Report here.
The Superfund National Priorities List includes the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding five sites to the Superfund National Priorities List. It is also proposing to add another two where releases of contamination pose significant human health and environmental risk.
"All people in this country, no matter the color of their skin, their ZIP code or income, deserve to live in communities free from harmful pollutants and contaminated lands,” says EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. “By adding sites to the Superfund National Priorities List, we are accelerating cleanups and working to ensure that more people living near the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination have the health and environmental protections they deserve.”
The Superfund National Priorities List includes the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination. The list serves as the basis for prioritizing EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions. Only releases at nonfederal sites included on the Superfund National Priorities List are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup. Cleanup at federal facilities is funded by the lead federal agency responsible for the site.
The EPA says thousands of contaminated sites, from landfills and processing plants to manufacturing facilities exist nationally due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open or otherwise improperly managed. President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law will accelerate the EPA’s work to help communities clean these contaminated sites with a $3.5 billion investment in the Superfund Remedial Program and reinstates the Superfund chemical excise taxes.
The EPA is adding the following sites to the Superfund National Priorities List:
Lower Hackensack River, Bergen and Hudson counties, New Jersey;
Brillo Landfill, Victory, New York;
Ochoa Fertilizer Co., Guánica, Puerto Rico;
Georgetown North Groundwater, Georgetown, Delaware; and
Highway 3 PCE, Le Mars, Iowa
The EPA is proposing to add the following sites to the Superfund National Priorities List:
East Basin Road Groundwater, New Castle, Delaware; and
PCE Carriage Cleaners, Bellevue, Nebraska
The agency says it is also withdrawing a previously proposed site, the East 10th Street site in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, following its determination that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will continue to investigate and clean the site under its state cleanup authority.
The EPA proposes sites to the Superfund National Priorities List based on a scientific determination of risks to people and the environment, consistent with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. Before it adds a site to the Superfund National Priorities List, a site must meet EPA’s requirements and proposed for addition to the list in the Federal Register, subject to a 60-day public comment period. The agency will add the site to the Superfund National Priorities List if it continues to meet the listing requirements after the public comment period closes and the agency has responded to any comments.
Superfund cleanups provide health and economic benefits to communities. The EPA says the program has helped reduce birth defects and blood-lead levels among children living near sites. Research has shown residential property values increase up to 24 percent within three miles of sites after cleanup.
As a result, communities are using previously blighted properties for a wide range of purposes, including retail businesses, office space, public parks, residences, warehouses and solar power generation. As of 2021, EPA has collected economic data on 650 Superfund sites. At these sites, 10,230 businesses are operating, 246,000 people employed, an estimated $18.6 billion in income earned by employees and $65.8 billion in sales generated by businesses.
For information about Superfund and the Superfund National Priorities List, click here.
Organization’s SOAR conference designed to feature new techniques in turning discarded materials into resources.
The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has issued a call for proposed presentations to be made at its SOAR (Sustainability Operations Action Resources) event in 2023.
The 2023 edition of SOAR, which has a tagline of “Technical Solutions for Resource Management,” will take place April 17-20 in Atlanta.
SWANA Technical Divisions Manager Natalie Garcia has invited interested parties to submit a proposal for a presentation via a video clip emailed to SWANA members.
“Delivering practical solutions to the solid waste industry’s most difficult problems, SOAR showcases the promising technologies, ideas and solutions that transform waste into a resource,” the organization says.
Calling it SWANA’s “premier technical conference,” the group says SOAR has been designed to connect “experts and problem solvers in industry-changing conversations about [their] most complex challenges.”
SWANA says in its email to members, it “welcomes your novel ideas, approaches, and solutions for addressing our industry’s pressing issues. Your proposal should spark debate, learning, and innovation; envision a future that promotes waste as a resource; and show participants a way to get there.”