Agenda - Council - 11/25/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- 41 - V. REGIONAL OBJECTIVES AND POTENTIAL DEGREES OF ABATEMENT The 1980 Waste Management Act requires that the Council's land disposal abatement report contain specific and quantifiable objectives and degrees of abatement. This section contains regional objectives for land disposal abatement for the next 20 years for each of the four abatement categories: waste reduction, waste separation, waste processing and resource recov- ery. These objectives are to serve as targets that counties will use to consider in their specific disposal alternative proposals due by April 1, 1982. These proposals should detail the investigation the counties have made of various alternatives, the realistic abatement each alternative can contribute and the short- and long-term implementation programs to reach the abatement levels each county deems to be achievable. The objectives for the Region were developed using the following approach. First, the problem was identified through estimating the rela- tive contribution of specific materials to the disposal problem (see Table 4). Second, the existing recycling system was identified and current recovery rates quantified to the extent possible. Third, a preliminary market survey was conducted to establish the potential for increased materials processing capacity. Fourth, a detailed analysis was completed of all possible waste reduction and recovery systems in order to develop conclusions about the relative feasibility, costs, impacts and potentials of each strategy (see conclusions in Section III). Fifth, the past work of Hennepin County, the City of St. Paul and the Metropolitan Inter-County Association was reviewed to assess their progress toward implementing recy- cling and resource recovery systems. Finally, after consideration of all this information and advice from the Metropolitan Council's Solid Waste Advisory Committtee as well as affected industries, objectives were pro- posed as goals for Region's land disposal abatement plans for the next 20 years. To develop a clearer picture of how waste originates, it is necessary to precisely define the waste stream. The total quantity of solid material generated from consumer activity can be defined as "gross discards"; that is, total materials generation before recycling or disposal (see Fig- ure 1). That portion of the gross discards that is recycled then becomes "secondary raw material" for use in manufacturing in lieu of, or in addi- tion to, virgin raw materials. Finally, the "net waste stream" can be defined as the final residual waste remaining after materials recovery, representing that portion of all material generated that is currently disposed of. Table 4 lists the various materials found in residential and commercial solid waste based on national averages. The first column describes the percent composition by weight of the net waste stream after recycling. The second column describes the percent of gross discards currently recycled through source separation. Although this composition data is based on national averages (EPA, 1975) and may not exactly represent the composition of the solid waste in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, several important facts are evident from this table: O As a major category, combustibles represent about 80 percent of the net waste stream.