Ending HERC Waste Incineration Requires Mayor Frey
Throughout my time as Chair of the Hennepin County Board, I have maintained forward momentum toward responsibly ending waste incineration at the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). I believe it is possible to conclude trash burning at the HERC within this decade — but only with a reasonable operational plan in place for the current waste stream, and only with consistent action from the municipalities that use the HERC as a service. That is not a complicated ask. It is the minimum that governing toward a shared goal requires.
Residents, businesses, and the staff of both our governments have waited long enough. Mayor Frey's inaction on this topic is not conducive to governing, nor to the productive institutional relationship between the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County that residents need and deserve.
What the HERC Is and Why Minneapolis Matters
The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) is a facility operated by Hennepin County. The HERC receives waste from municipalities, residents, and businesses — and then converts that waste to energy, which electrifies half of downtown Minneapolis and about 25,000 residences.
The HERC facility was established via coordination between the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and the State of Minnesota in the 1980s. Thanks to the historic Clean Energy Bill in 2023, now is the best time to finally conclude trash burning in Hennepin County.
Minneapolis generates more waste than any other city in Minnesota. Approximately 75% of what gets processed at the HERC comes from Minneapolis — about 22% from organized residential collection and 53% from businesses. The remaining 25% comes from other municipalities, which means the City of Minneapolis is the municipality that is the single largest municipal user of the HERC.
Ending waste incineration at the HERC responsibly requires deliberate, consistent, multi-jurisdictional coordination. That coordination requires an executive at the City of Minneapolis who is governing consistently on this topic. Despite clear and consistent asks over multiple years, this outcome has not yet occurred — which necessitates this statement for transparency and urgency.
What I’ve Asked and Why
My ask is simple: Mayor Frey must be transparent and clear regarding his operational needs for the HERC service, as well as his policy direction for the future of the HERC site. I have outlined repeatedly the need for policymaker clarity from the sole elected executive at the City of Minneapolis (see Timeline section below), with the most recent email on June 10 summarizing two questions:
If the operational plan is for the City of Minneapolis to remain utilizing HERC waste incineration in 2027 – do you support or oppose the community advocacy position to shift waste hauling from the HERC to landfills?
The City has acknowledged that your published position on the future of the HERC site (full closure, November 2024 resolution), differs from your present position (Pre-Sort facility, December 2025 letter) – then when can I expect to see a shift in your published position, so that our jurisdictions’ staffs can work more explicitly toward this outcome?
The questions I have asked require a decision and published position that is accurate and aligned. Government staff are generally expected to follow their policymakers, so Mayor Frey’s direction as the City’s executive policymaker is essential for staff to advance a plan for the future of the HERC site.
Hennepin County remains committed to and has made progress toward:
Responsible conclusion of waste incineration at the HERC
Converting the facility into a Pre-Sort and Recycling center
Zero-waste future built on effective operational planning and measurable outcomes
Hennepin County can only achieve these published goals with direct partnership, coordination, and leadership from the City of Minneapolis. For any plan to move forward — the City of Minneapolis must take clear and transparent action, and there is only one elected policymaker with the operational authority to do so.
Mayor Frey’s Contradiction
In November 2024, Mayor Frey signed a Resolution RCA-2024-01229, calling for the full closure of the HERC — concluding waste incineration by December 2027 and decommissioning the entire facility by December 2033. This month, the City confirmed through its Chief Operating Officer (COO) that it plans to continue contracting for waste incineration at the HERC through 2027, and has made no operational moves toward alternative waste management.
The Mayor has not published a revised position that reconciles his contradicting positions — using the HERC facility through 2027, while wanting it to conclude burning in the same timeline — is incongruent with reality.
The result is a governing vacuum. Residents cite the Resolution to demand immediate closure and a shift to landfill hauling. Businesses — including those I heard from directly at a Downtown Council lunch on April 27 — cite an operational need and ask that the HERC remain open. All of us deserve an honest answer from the executive who signed that Resolution.
Further, City staff cannot advance shared zero-waste goals when the executive direction at the top hasn't resolved its own internal contradiction.
The Minneapolis City Council Is Also Asking
I am not the only one who sees this. The Minneapolis City Council sees it too.
Councilmember Rainville recently authored a Legislative Directive in December 2025 requesting that Mayor Frey provide the Council with answers on what the City needs to do to prepare for HERC closure. The Directive asks: What steps are required? What are the projected costs and timelines? What is the plan for waste currently delivered to the HERC? What are the environmental impacts of alternative hauling? What happens to electricity rates when the HERC's energy output is lost?
The Mayor has still not responded to this Directive. These are questions that should have been answered before the Resolution was signed — not 13 months later, and counting.
This is especially unproductive because of the 2022 governance change at the City of Minneapolis, which places nearly all operational authority with the Mayor over the Council. In this case: the Council legislatively passed a Directive, however the Mayor must operationally direct staff to pursue or prioritize said Directive.
Timeline of My Communications with the City of Minneapolis
April 8, 2026 — I sent a formal memo to Mayor Frey requesting clarity on the City's plans for 2027 and its position on the future of the HERC site. I requested a response by May 29, 2026. (PDF)
April 29, 2026 — I sent a letter to Mayors of municipalities with HERC hauler agreements, asking whether any had developed alternate plans for waste delivery or were considering shifting waste to landfills. I requested a response by May 29, 2026. (PDF)
May 15, 2026 — The Hennepin County Board received a memo from County staff noting that Minneapolis had not met the county's recycling performance standard and must submit a Recycling Improvement Plan — with SCORE funding at risk if the plan is insufficient. (PDF)
May 29, 2026 — As of the stated response deadline, I had received no acknowledgment or response from Mayor Frey on either April letter.
June 1, 2026 — The City responded to my April 8 memo through COO Margaret Anderson Kelliher, confirming the City plans to contract for HERC waste incineration in 2027, that the Mayor's formal policy position has not changed since the 2024 Resolution, and that any shift in site use would need to be initiated by the County. (PDF)
June 3, 2026 — I responded, identifying the unresolved contradiction between the City's operational plan and the Mayor's signed Resolution, noting that staff cannot advance toward a shared outcome without executive clarity on that contradiction. I cc'd Mayor Frey directly. (PDF)
June 10, 2026 — I sent an urgent follow-up to Mayor Frey asking two direct questions: Does he support or oppose the community advocacy position to shift waste hauling to landfills, given that the City's operational plan is to continue using the HERC through 2027? And when can residents expect to see his published position updated, so that City and County staff can work explicitly toward a shared outcome? (PDF)
June 12, 2026 — No response received as of today.