The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is recommending expansion of four south metro landfills, including the Burnsville Sanitary Landfill west of Interstate 35W and south of the Minnesota River. The expansions, a 鈥渟hort-term solution鈥� to the metro area鈥檚 鈥済rowing garbage problem,鈥� would accommodate 5.6 million tons of garbage over the next seven years. The Twin Cities metro area generates about 3.3 million tons of waste each year, and the amount of garbage going to landfills has increased by 30% in the past year, the MPCA said.
The MPCA is also reviewing a longer-term proposal from owner Waste Management to extend the Burnsville landfill鈥檚 life by 40 years. The agency determined the expansion would not affect groundwater quality but is seeking updated groundwater sampling and analysis from Waste Management as part of a draft environmental impact statement.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 take decisions to expand landfills lightly,鈥� said Kirk Koudelka, MPCA assistant commissioner for land policy and strategic initiatives. 鈥淭he metro area is running out of landfill space to manage waste as our landfills fill up. Additional capacity is a short-term solution. We are also looking at the long-term, big picture on how to best manage our waste so it does not need to be landfilled.鈥�