The recent Clean up days taking place in Hastings, South St. Paul and Rosemount is helping to reduce the waste generated by residents and businesses sent to landfills and instead, directed to recycling and the manufacture of energy. Last year, twice as much waste as ever before, was used to fuel resource recovery facilities that use the materials to create electricity. The Dakota County Solid Waste Progress report creates goals that would further reduce the use of landfills to just 9% by the year 2030 from a 2008 level of 28%, by requiring that more and more goods be reused. Dakota County has announced that goals are set for 2020 to require at least 51% of all collected waste to be recycled with that number climbing to 75% by 2030, just 14 years from now. Despite the projections, however, a 17% increase in the generation of total waste was recorded in Dakota County, jumping by 65 tons from the previous year. 59 percent of materials were diverted through recycling mandates, education and industrial programs that remove refuse from the waste stream and enlists recycling partnerships to minimize impact on current landfills. The entire report can be viewed on the Dakota County Website. https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Environment/ReportsStudies/Documents/2016SolidWasteProgressReport.pdf
