Subdivision 1.County plans; general requirements.

Each metropolitan county, following adoption or revision of the metropolitan policy plan and in accordance with the dates specified therein, and after consultation with all affected local government units, shall prepare and submit to the commissioner for approval, a county solid waste plan to implement the policy plan. The plan shall be revised and resubmitted at such times as the metropolitan policy plan may require. The plan shall describe county solid waste activities, functions, and facilities; the existing system of solid waste generation, collection, and processing, and disposal within the county; proposed mechanisms for complying with the recycling requirements of section 115A.551, and the household hazardous waste management requirements of section 115A.96, subdivision 6; existing and proposed county and municipal ordinances and license and permit requirements relating to solid waste facilities and solid waste generation, collection, and processing, and disposal; existing or proposed municipal, county, or private solid waste facilities and collection services within the county together with schedules of existing rates and charges to users and statements as to the extent to which such facilities and services will or may be used to implement the policy plan; and any solid waste facility which the county owns or plans to acquire, construct, or improve together with statements as to the planned method, estimated cost and time of acquisition, proposed procedures for operation and maintenance of each facility; an estimate of the annual cost of operation and maintenance of each facility; an estimate of the annual gross revenues which will be received from the operation of each facility; and a proposal for the use of each facility after it is no longer needed or usable as a waste facility. The plan shall, to the extent practicable and consistent with the achievement of other public policies and purposes, encourage ownership and operation of solid waste facilities by private industry. For solid waste facilities owned or operated by public agencies or supported primarily by public funds or obligations issued by a public agency, the plan shall contain criteria and standards to protect comparable private and public facilities already existing in the area from displacement unless the displacement is required in order to achieve the waste management objectives identified in the plan.

Subd. 1a.

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[Repealed, 1991 c 337 s 90]

Subd. 1b.

[Repealed, 1995 c 247 art 1 s 67]

Subd. 1c.County abatement plan.

Each county shall revise its plan to include a land disposal abatement element to implement the metropolitan land disposal abatement plan adopted under section 473.149, subdivision 2d, and shall submit the revised plan to the commissioner for review under subdivision 2 within nine months after the adoption of the metropolitan abatement plan. The county plan must implement the local abatement objectives for the county and cities within the county as stated in the metropolitan abatement plan. The county abatement plan must include specific and quantifiable county objectives, based on the objectives in the metropolitan abatement plan, for abating to the greatest feasible and prudent extent the need for and practice of land disposal of mixed municipal solid waste and of specific components of the solid waste stream generated in the county, stated in six-year increments for a period of at least 20 years from the date of metropolitan policy plan revisions. The plan must include measurable performance standards for local abatement of solid waste through resource recovery and waste reduction and separation programs and activities for the county as a whole and for statutory or home rule charter cities of the first, second, and third class, respectively, in the county, stated in six-year increments for a period of at least 20 years from the date of metropolitan policy plan revisions. The performance standards must implement the metropolitan and county abatement objectives. The plan must include standards and procedures to be used by the county in determining annually under subdivision 3 whether a city within the county has implemented the plan and has satisfied the performance standards for local abatement. The plan revision required by this subdivision must be prepared in consultation with the advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision 4.

Subd. 1d.Plans for required use of resource recovery facilities.

Plans proposing designation of resource recovery facilities pursuant to section 473.811, subdivision 10, shall evaluate the benefits of the proposal, including the public purposes achieved by the conservation and recovery of resources, the furtherance of local, district, or regional waste management plans and policies, and the furtherance of the state policies and purposes expressed in section 115A.02, and also the costs of the proposal, including not only the direct capital and operating costs of the facility but also any indirect costs and adverse long-term effects of the designation. In particular the plan shall evaluate:

(a) whether the required use will result in the recovery of resources or energy from materials which would otherwise be wasted;

(b) whether the required use will lessen the demand for and use of land disposal;

(c) whether the required use is necessary for the financial support of the facility;

(d) whether less restrictive methods for ensuring an adequate solid waste supply are available;

(e) all other feasible and prudent waste processing alternatives for accomplishing the purposes of the proposed designation, the direct and indirect costs of the alternatives, including capital and operating costs, and the effects of the alternatives on the cost to generators.

Subd. 1e.

[Repealed, 1995 c 247 art 1 s 67]

Subd. 2.Commissioner review.

The commissioner shall review each plan or revision thereof to determine whether it is consistent with the metropolitan policy plan. If it is not consistent, the commissioner shall disapprove and return the plan with its comments to the county for revision and resubmittal. The county shall have 90 days to revise and resubmit the plan for the commissioner’s approval. Any county solid waste plan or report approved by the council prior to July 1, 1994, shall remain in effect until a new plan is submitted to and approved by the commissioner in accordance with this section.

The commissioner shall review the household hazardous waste management portion of each county’s plan.

Subd. 2a.Waste abatement.

The commissioner may require any county that fails to meet the waste abatement objectives contained in the metropolitan policy plan to amend its plan to address methods to achieve the objectives. The plan amendment is subject to review and approval as provided in subdivision 2 and must consider at least:

(1) minimum recycling service levels for solid waste generators;

(2) mandatory generator participation in recycling programs including separation of recyclable material from mixed municipal solid waste;

(3) use of organized solid waste collection under section 115A.94; and

(4) waste abatement participation incentives including provision of storage bins, weekly collection of recyclable material, expansion of the types of recyclable material for collection, collection of recyclable material on the same day as collection of solid waste, and financial incentives such as basing charges to generators for waste collection services on the volume of waste generated and discounting collection charges for generators who separate recyclable material for collection separate from their solid waste.

Subd. 3.Annual report.

By April 1 of each year, each metropolitan county shall prepare and submit to the commissioner for approval a report containing information, as prescribed in the metropolitan policy plan, concerning solid waste generation and management within the county. The report shall include a statement of progress in achieving the land disposal abatement objectives for the county and classes of cities in the county as stated in the metropolitan policy plan and county plan. The report must list cities that have not satisfied the county performance standards for local abatement required by subdivision 1c. The report must include a schedule of rates and charges in effect or proposed for the use of any solid waste facility owned or operated by or on its behalf, together with a statement of the basis for such charges.

The report shall contain the recycling development grant report required by section 473.8441 and the annual certification report required by section 473.848.

Subd. 4.Advisory committee.

Each county shall establish a solid waste management advisory committee to aid in the preparation of the county plan, any revisions thereof, and such additional matters as the county deems appropriate. The committee must consist of citizen representatives, representatives from towns and cities within the county, and representatives from private waste management firms. The committee must include residents of towns or cities within the county containing solid waste disposal facilities. The commissioner or the commissioner’s appointee is a nonvoting ex officio member of the committee.

Subd. 5.Role of private sector; county oversight.

A county may include in its solid waste management plan and in its plan for county land disposal abatement a determination that the private sector will achieve, either in part or in whole, the goals and requirements of sections 473.149 and 473.803, as long as the county:

(1) retains active oversight over the efforts of the private sector and monitors performance to ensure compliance with the law and the goals and standards in the metropolitan policy plan and the county plan;

(2) continues to meet its responsibilities under the law for ensuring proper waste management, including, at a minimum, enforcing waste management law, providing waste education, promoting waste reduction, and providing its residents the opportunity to recycle waste materials; and

(3) continues to provide all required reports on the county’s progress in meeting the waste management goals and standards of this chapter and chapter 115A.