Connect with us

Minnesota

OPINION EXCHANGE | Minnesota has a growing trash problem

Published

on

OPINION EXCHANGE  |  Minnesota has a growing trash problem


Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Across Minnesota, we are inundated with packaging, from our doorsteps to store shelves. Packaging waste and printed paper now account for 40% of our waste stream. In the Twin Cities metro area alone, the amount of waste generated is projected to grow by 19% over the next two decades. The burden of managing this ever-growing deluge of packaging waste currently falls on local governments and taxpayers.

Our system is overwhelmed, underperforming, outdated and unjust. Minnesota deserves better, and our solution is HF 3577/SF 3561, the packaging waste and cost reduction act. This is a producer-funded system to reduce packaging and single-use plastic, make recycling easier and lower taxpayer costs for managing waste.

Advertisement

This bill isn’t a “nice to do.” It’s a must-do, and the time to act is now. Minnesota is at an inflection point: We have a strong foundation of recycling, yet a 2024 national report found that more than 65% of our cardboard, paper, bottles, cans and other recyclables still end up in Minnesota landfills and incinerators, or as plastic pollution in our environment. This lost waste forces counties to expand landfills across the state. In the metro area, landfills were recently permitted to expand to take in another 5.6 million tons of waste over the next 10 years, with nearly 4 million tons going to two sites in Burnsville and Inver Grove Heights.

We are facing mounting calls to act on this ever-growing trash problem: the inevitable closure of the Hennepin County Energy Recovery Center (HERC), pressures to expand landfills by an unceasing waste stream, a retrenchment of curbside recycling programs in cities like Virginia and Hibbing, and the countless risks that landfills present to our communities, including groundwater contamination and dangers like last year’s landfill fire in Rice County. All these factors threaten Minnesota’s historic leadership in dealing with solid waste, while also clarifying the need for bold action to address our trash problem.

Our bill will improve Minnesota’s recycling by building upon the existing system and combining it with new funding from producers of packaging and paper. This program would use sliding scale fees based on the sustainability of packaging to incentivize producers to reduce their packaging waste and ensure they are not using hard-to-recycle materials that burden our system. The program will protect and leverage public and private investments already made in Minnesota.

This is an environmental and economic solution. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency estimates that Minnesotans throw away over $140 million in recyclable materials every year that could instead be used in local manufacturing to create new products. In fact, many of the major waste and recycling haulers serving Minnesota are already talking about the business opportunities presented by similar programs in Canada.

Opponents of this bill argue that it will increase consumer prices, but data from Canada and Europe proves this wrong. The impact of producer fees for packaging on consumer prices is minimal or nonexistent because packaging fees are only one minor factor affecting the market price of packaged goods. Further, Minnesotans already pay the price of expanding landfills, plastic pollution, increased asthma from incineration and more. This bill shifts those costs and requires producers to invest in solutions, rather than just continuing to pass these harms along.

Advertisement

We’ve worked for months with stakeholders across the solid waste community to build the right solution for Minnesota. While some manufacturers oppose any change, they have failed to propose solutions that move us forward. The fact is that an unwillingness to change is a vote for more landfills, more incineration, more plastic pollution, and more costs upon counties and taxpayers.

This bill is about far more than just waste. It’s part of our commitment to climate, to environmental justice, to reducing plastic pollution and to creating a cleaner, circular economy. We are responding to our residents, counties and environment. This is a well-developed, commonsense, comprehensive solution supported by a coalition of local governments, nonprofits, business groups, recyclers and residents. We need to move forward now so Minnesota can increase recycling, reduce plastic waste, mitigate climate pollution and create green jobs while saving money for households and local governments.

Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis, is a member of the Minnesota House. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, is assistant majority leader in the Minnesota Senate.



Source link

Advertisement

Minnesota

Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6

Published

on

Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6



The Wild were taken down by the Utah Mammoth 5-2 on Friday night to end Minnesota’s winning streak at six games. 

Lawson Crouse scored twice and U.S. Olympian Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for Utah.

Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves to help the Mammoth rebound from a 4-2 home loss to NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night in their return from the Olympic break. Utah began the night in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Advertisement

U.S. Olympian Matt Boldy scored and assisted on Kirill Kaprizov’s goal for Minnesota. Second behind Central Division-rival Colorado in the West, the Wild are 9-2-1 in their last 12. They beat the Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in Denver.

Cooley opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 6:37 left in the first period. The former University of Minnesota star got the puck on the right side off a deflection and put a shot between Wallstedt’s legs for his 15th goal.

Keller scored his 18th at 4:26 of the second. Nick Schmaltz forced a turnover on a forecheck and fed Keller on the right side.

Crouse made it 3-0 at 7:49 of the second. He came down the middle, took a pass from Keller and beat Wallstedt with a backhander.

Kaprizov countered for Minnesota on a power play with 5:57 left in the second. He has 33 goals this season.

Advertisement

Hayton made it 4-1 on a power play at 1:19 of the third, and Crouse added his 16th of the season on a tip with 7:12 to go.

Boldy got his 35th of the season with 5:57 remaining.

Up next

Wild: Host St. Louis on Sunday.

Mammoth: Host Chicago on Sunday.

Advertisement



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Minnesota

Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota

Published

on

Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota


Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.

Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.

Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.

Advertisement

Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.

The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.

The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.

Advertisement

The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.

The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.

Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Minnesota

Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters

Published

on

Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters


A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.

The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.

In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.

Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”

Advertisement

The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.

“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.

All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”

Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.

Don Lemon reporting from an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn.@TheDonLemonShow via YouTube

This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Advertisement

According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.

The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”

Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.

Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, Cities Church protest arraignment, St. Paul, Minn., February 2026
Nekima Levy Armstrong in St. Paul, Minn., on Feb. 13.Carlos Gonzalez / Star Tribune via Getty Images

In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”

Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending