By THE ZERO BURN COALITION
The Zero Burn Coalition, comprised of over 30 organizations and hundreds of individuals, is working on all fronts to shut down the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) trash incinerator located in downtown Minneapolis by the end of 2025.
One big next step is to get the city of Minneapolis to pass a resolution calling for Hennepin County to close HERC, which we’re hoping the City Council will be taking up this month.
Why is shutting down HERC an urgent priority, and how can it be shut down by 2025?
Contrary to what Hennepin County argues, HERC has been poisoning communities closeby ever since it began burning trash in 1989. Nurses, teachers, parents, bus drivers, and other neighbors have attested to the fact that asthma rates and other health issues are higher in neighborhoods near HERC as opposed to neighborhoods farther away. Scientists now back them up. And regulations cannot keep up with the industry; HERC is burning chemicals that we don’t know the health effects of.
The good news is that Zero Waste USA has developed The People’s HERC Transition Plan, which shows that HERC can be shut down by 2025. This will move us much faster towards reducing Hennepin County’s waste.
What would happen to our waste?
In order to catalyze momentum around zero waste initiatives, we must first close the door on burning trash as an option. As long as HERC is in operation, it needs a steady stream of waste to keep flowing in. This stream currently includes substantial amounts of organic waste like food scraps that could be composted as well as materials that could be recycled and reused.
Therefore, a great deal of the waste currently going to HERC will be diverted into more productive uses like composting and recycling. The rest will go to landfills that are currently in operation and have much lower impacts on health. Strong incentives against landfills will also force governments to prevent waste.
How would this affect Phillips?
Shutting down HERC would improve the air and people’s health in Phillips. According to MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR) climatologist Greg Spoden, quoted in an October 1996 article in the alley by Maggie Sullivan and Sue Rich, neighborhoods south and southeast of HERC are downwind from November to April. Phillips residents inhale the most intense concentration of poisonous substances during those months.
We are also working to make sure that any effects of this shut down on the Phillips Transfer Station would benefit the community. We encourage Phillips residents to get involved to help determine what a zero waste system will look like for Minneapolis.
For the air we breathe, for the next generation, join us in shutting down HERC by 2025!
Visit https://linktr.ee/zeroburn to learn more, read The People’s HERC Transition Plan, view a full list of coalition members, and sign up to get involved.
