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Hennepin County official outlines operations of trash-burning plant amid calls for its closure

By
Frankie McLister
Frankie McLister
Reporter
Frankie McLister, originally from Middletown, Maryland, holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
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Frankie McLister

/ CBS Minnesota

Environmental activists are going hungry as they say they want a trash-burning plant in Minneapolis to shut down. People who work there say it's not that simple. 

"We're a 24/7, 365 operation," said Dave McNary of Hennepin County Environment and Energy. "There's 700,000 tons of trash produced in Hennepin County every year. We can only process 365,000 tons per our permit."

While some county litter goes to landfills, over half goes to the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center.

"75% of the trash is coming from Minneapolis," said McNary.

The facility, also known as HERC, has been operating since 1990. Those who oversee the site say that although it's nearly 35 years old, it's evolving with the times.

"The emissions from this facility, if you look at our data, we're well below and have always been below our permitted levels," McNary added.

herc.jpg
The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 15, 2026.  WCCO

Truck by truck, trash comes in and pulls out things like electronics and mattresses they don't want to burn. The crane drops waste into boilers, which leads the trash to the incineration process. 

The county said this ultimately produces steam used to power over 25,000 households.

"Almost half of this facility, property-wise, is designed to remove the chemicals, pollutants. We're highly regulated," said McNary.

Pollutants are a hot topic for why the facility has received recent backlash.

"Our neighborhoods are not a dumping ground, our lungs are not collateral, our lives are not negotiable," said one protester recently.

A group organized by nonprofit Zero Burn Coalition is dedicated to helping county leaders shut it down. They say the HERC is poisoning people who live nearby and organized a Hunger Strike, which started on April 10.

"If there wasn't so much trash, then a facility like this wouldn't be necessary," McNary told WCCO.

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