01-03-1985 Council Packet Special Meeting

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Minnesota Waste Management Board: to coordinate technical and financial assistance activities and public education and information activities; coordinate implementation of county waste management districts. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: to fulfill the Metropolitan Area por- tion of a state solid waste plan pursuant to the requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; to provide technical and financial assistance to cities and townships in the region; to coordinate public education and information activities. Private solid waste firms: to develop and operate waste facilities and services. SUMMARY MAJOR CHANGES FROM THE 1981 GUIDE This guide differs significantly from the Council's 1981 solid waste management guide. One major change is that this guide provides more specific direction on when waste facilities and services should be provided or what their capacities should be. It establishes specific implementation objectives and time schedules. Specific assignments to implement waste facilities and services are given to counties, cities and towns. The Council can track more closely progress in meeting the objectives and time schedules, and contingency options can be used if implementation is not working or proceeding slower than necessary. A second change is the strengthened methods of implementing this guide. Through plan approvals and review functions, the Council can implement many of the guide's policies. The Council now also has a resource recovery grant and loan and technical assistance program that will help implement policy. Additional review mechanisms have been included in the guide: county waste district proposals and county waste -flow designation proposals. Another significant change is that economic considerations alone will not deter- mine the relative priority of waste management strategies. lha 1981 chapter stated that economic feasibility was a prerequisite for waste facilities and services that would be implemented. This guide recognizes that the present solid waste system does not fully incorporate its total cost. The benefits of recycling, the avoided costs of taking less waste to landfills, and the future costs of controlling environmental problems are not passed on to the waste generator. This guide states that economics may be a factor, but that alterna- tives to land disposal do not have to be competititve with current costs. Another change is in the scope and content of the system plan of this guide. The 1981 guide had system plans for municipal solid waste, tree waste manage- ment and sewage treatment residuals. This guide chapter, in an effort to sharpen the focus, has a system plan only for municipal solid waste manage- ment. Sewage treatment residuals, sludge and ash from the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission's treatment plants, are dealt with in the Council's Water Resources Mana ement guide. Tree waste management is no longer a priority prob em or the re9 on, and its regulation will be left to the MPCA and local units of government. To the extent tree wastes affect the regional solid waste management system, the policies and criteria in this guide can be used if neces- sary.