01-03-1985 Council Packet Special Meeting

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY INTRODUCTION PURPOSE This document is a plan for managing the Metropolitan Area's solid waste well past the year 2000. It is intended to carry out state and federal requirements for proper waste management. It is also intended to serve as a basis for devel- oping a regional system for dealing with solid waste that emphasizes recovery of resources and minimizes the land disposal of solid waste. Solid waste includes trash, garbage, and other discards, as well as nonhazard- ous wastes of industrial and similar activities. In the Metropolitan Area, solid waste is commonly disposed of in landfills. But the volume of solid waste is increasing; landfill capacity is being rapidly used up; it is diffi- cult to find new satisfactory sites for land disposal; and existing sites are going to have serious long-term environmental consequences. At the same time, rapid technological developments in resource recovery and renewed interest in recycling are now making possible other waste management techniques. In response to this situation, the 1980 Minnesota Legislature passed the state Waste Management Act, significantly increasing the Metropolitan Council's responsibility for solid waste management in the Metropolitan Area. This act charged the Council with providing a long-range plan for managing solid waste in the region that provides for the reduction of waste, recovery of materials and energy and minimizes the practice of land disposal. The act requires the plan to set regional waste management policy and provide schedules for devel- oping waste facilities and activities to manage solid waste through the year 2000. This guide responds to the 1980 directive. It replaces the solid waste manage- ment chapter of the Council's Metro olitan Develo ment Guide that the Council adopted in 1979 and amended in he o i Waste Management DeveloInAnt Guide/Policy Plan is one chapter of the Metro o tan eve o ment ui e. While most chapters provide policy and development direct on or a spec is unc- tional system, such as solid waste management, the Metropolitan Development Framework, adopted in 1975, presents broad integrating policies for coordina- tion of regional development. Individual chapters of the Development Guide are supportive of the Development Framework and incorporate its orientation on the nature, timing and magnitude of regional growth. The broad goals of the Development Framework provide a resource management strategy that retains and enhances the livable qualities of the Metropolitan Area, solving existing and future problems before crises occur and that pro- motes orderly growth and economic development within the region. The frame- work's primary objectives include protection and preservation of the natural environment by basing physical and economic development decisions on sound environmental practices, and establishment of resource management processes that incorporate and interrelate all planning and programs under the Council's jurisdiction.