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RELEVANT LINKS: <br />Beginning in the 1970s, the Minnesota Legislature adopted a variety of <br />waste management regulations, and it gave the Minnesota Pollution Control <br />Agency (MPCA) regulatory oversight over the management of solid waste <br />and recycling. <br />Minn. Star. § 115A.46. Tools <br />The MPCA develops and enforces the state's solid waste management <br />for local government, MPCA. <br />regulations. It also is responsible for approving the solid waste plans that <br />counties must adopt. The MPCA offers a variety of tools to help counties, <br />cities, and townships develop and support systems that recover resources <br />and manage waste. <br />See Minn. Star. ch. 115A. <br />The Minnesota Legislature adopted the Waste Management Act in 1980. It <br />establishes the following descending order of preference for waste <br />management: <br />Minn. Stat. § 115A.02. <br />• Waste reduction and reuse. <br />• Waste recycling. <br />• Composting of source -separated compostable materials, including, but <br />not limited to, yard waste and food waste. <br />• Resource recovery through mixed municipal solid waste composting or <br />incineration. <br />• Land disposal that produces no measurable methane gas or that involves <br />the retrieval of methane gas as a fuel for the production of energy to be <br />used on -site or for sale. <br />• Land disposal that produces measurable methane and that does not <br />involve the retrieval of methane gas as a fuel for the production of <br />energy to be used on -site or for sale. <br />D. County oversight <br />Minn. Star. § 115A.46. Minn. <br />Minnesota counties have primary responsibility for solid waste management, <br />Star. § 400.16. Minn. Stat. § <br />473.149. Minn. R. ch. 9215. <br />including recycling. All counties are required to adopt a solid waste plan that <br />must include waste reduction and recycling provisions, as well as provisions <br />to minimize the amount of waste disposed of in landfills. <br />Minn. Star. § 115A.46 subd. <br />After the MPCA has approved a county's solid waste plan, a city located in <br />5. <br />that county may not enter into a binding agreement governing solid waste <br />management activity or develop or implement solid waste management <br />activity (other than activity to reduce waste generation or reuse waste <br />materials) that is inconsistent with the county's plan without the county's <br />consent. <br />Minn. Star. § 473.149. See <br />Metropolitan counties must develop solid waste management plans that are <br />Metropolitan Solid Waste <br />Management Policy Plan <br />consistent with the most recent "metropolitan long-range policy plan." <br />2016-2036 <br />League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 6/9/2022 <br />City Solid Waste Management Page 2 <br />