Issue Brief: Landfill capacity is not a barrier to closing minneapolis trash burner
Now that Hennepin County has quietly admitted that the HERC burner is not profitable, its newest excuse for keeping the HERC open is fearmongering about landfills – one of the oldest tricks in the industry playbook.
Where Zero Waste Experts Stand:
Landfilling is not a long-term solution: we must dramatically increase recycling and reduction. But the global Zero Waste consensus is that: (1) incineration is a major obstacle to recycling and reduction (more on that below), and (2) incineration is much more harmful than using modern lined landfills, especially given our country’s poor incinerator emissions limits and monitoring. In 2023, Zero Waste USA created a closure plan for HERC that proved that shutting down the burner will allow us to make much faster progress toward Zero Waste.
MCEA landfill capacity report
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy's (MCEA) analysis of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) own data found that the four primary metro-area landfills -- Elk River, Burnsville Sanitary, Pine Bend, and Spruce Ridge -- have a combined remaining design capacity of 54.7 million tons, enough to absorb HERC's waste stream through 2054 even if the burner closed tomorrow and there was no progress toward waste diversion and reduction.
Hennepin County officials are exploiting the difference between "design capacity" (the maximum capacity considering a facility's long term plans and site constraints) and "permitted capacity" (allowed capacity under current MPCA permits) to confuse the public. MPCA regularly grants landfills "certificates of need" to increase their permitted capacity. And even if metro landfills ran out of room, trash from the burner could be trucked to nearby states. This has happened after incinerators in other states have closed. No incinerator in the country has closed without using landfills as a temporary substitute.
“No incinerator in the country has closed without using landfills as a temporary substitute.”
At a 2026 county meeting, MPCA Assistant Commissioner Kirk Koudelka was asked what closing HERC would require. His answer: it would mean either a new landfill "or be divided up other places... some landfills have space, others do not." That's a direct acknowledgment that existing capacity can absorb HERC's waste, not a claim that a new landfill is required.
On "landfills vs. incinerators"
The County's case usually rests on two points: landfill methane emissions and groundwater risk. Both deserve a direct answer.
GHG emissions: Landfills do produce methane, but modern facilities capture much of it. HERC has its own significant climate cost too -- burning plastics and other fossil-derived materials at HERC releases substantial CO2. EPA data shows HERC to be the 31st biggest GHG emitter in the state.
Groundwater: MPCA itself has concluded that expansion of the Burnsville Sanitary Landfill was "not expected to affect groundwater." MPCA's groundwater contamination atlas and EPA's ECHO database report no violations for metro area landfills. Meanwhile, HERC's own ash, concentrated with lead, cadmium, chromium, and dioxins from the combustion process, is legally a "special waste" requiring its own landfill disposal. Incineration doesn't avoid the landfill question, it adds a toxic byproduct on top of it.
Air pollution, on the other hand, has received less attention in this comparison. What HERC does not bury in the form of ash is immediately released into surrounding communities in the form of air pollution. The Minneapolis burner’s emissions limits are decades old—if modern standards were in place, its emissions would be in violation for multiple pollutants.
Burning trash still requires landfilling
Burning trash at HERC doesn't eliminate landfilling: it creates highly toxic ash, concentrated with heavy metals and other toxins, that needs to be trucked to the Rosemount industrial landfill a few hundred meters from the Mississippi River. Every year, about 80,000 tons of ash – around 22% by weight of what’s burned at HERC – is trucked to Rosemount. California was considering re-classifying this ash as hazardous waste before the last incinerator in the state closed in 2024. Because incineration concentrates lead, cadmium, chromium, and combustion byproducts like dioxins and furans into the ash, it's classified as "special waste" under Minnesota law and requires additional containment beyond standard landfill practices.
MCEA filed a lawsuit against Hennepin County on July 7, 2026 over how this ash is handled.
HERC is a major impediment to waste reduction and landfill diversion
The County argues we need to reach zero waste before closing. Waste and health experts worldwide disagree. Incinerators are more expensive than alternatives, worse for public health, and they actively undermine recycling and composting by requiring a guaranteed stream of burnable material. The fastest path to zero waste runs directly through closing the trash burner — not around it. HERC blocks progress. When the county couldn’t expand HERC in 2014, it immediately turned to composting.
Zero Waste USA, the premier Zero Waste organization and technical expert in the country, conducted an analysis in 2023 and found that shutting HERC would result in much faster waste reduction than attempting to make progress while HERC is open.
The transition plan exists. The county’s will to act does not. Add your name to join ZBC and let’s create the Zero Waste future we deserve!
Further Reading:
READ: Why solid waste incineration is not the answer to your city’s waste problem
READ: BURNING TRASH IS A CLIMATE DISASTER
READ: In Europe, a Backlash Is Growing Over Incinerating Garbage