Dive Brief:
- Minnesota’s Becker County is getting a larger, improved $2.88 million solid waste transfer station that will store three days of trash inside, as required by law. The 16,000-square-foot facility will also be designed to separate commercial trash haulers' loads from residents' loads.
- Next, the County will build a nearby recycling center, designed to help the county — which now recycles about 45% of its waste — to reach a recycling rate of at least 60%.
- Both facilities will be funded by the state and matching funds from the county’s environmental services fund.
Dive Insight:
The larger, more efficiently designed facilities will come on line at a time when Becker County’s waste management needs are growing, as are its goals.
Regarding the new transfer station, Steve Skoog, environmental services director for Becker County, said, "Hopefully it takes us many years into the future. The county is going to grow, and now we'll have the capacity."
Although the 240-acre landfill has plenty of open space, only 40 or 50 acres are useable; the remaining property is capped landfill or in an exclusion zone.
