MPCA Holds Meeting in Bemidji on Construction & Debris Landfill Rule Changes

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency held an informational meeting Wednesday in Bemidji regarding new rules proposed for 2025 on construction debris disposal.

The new rules will regulate the handling, management, processing, and disposal of construction and demolition debris. These rule changes could have significant impacts for solid waste operations, including in Beltrami County in northern Minnesota. A recently commissioned study found that these new rule changes could result in substantial costs in construction and debris disposal.

“The current design for construction and demolition landfill rules was promulgated in 1988,” explained MPCA Solid Waste Grants Coordinator Jeannie Given at the meeting. “What we knew in 1988 was the best that we knew. We knew that the technology at that time, our information, our science, all of that is what we knew at that time. 1988 was a really long time ago. Landfilling of construction and demolition waste was considered to be inert. We know today that it’s not. We are here to talk about what a new system could look like. How do we bring up the 1988 rules into today’s technology, today’s knowledge and protect our environment?”

If the rules are passed for 2025 and there is no viable option for disposing of construction materials and debris, the material needs to be managed at a municipal solid waste landfill.