Environmental Impact - Better Futures Minnesota

There are better ideas for waste management than expanding the landfill in Burnsville. Here are just a few.

5 Aug 2019 Environmental Impact, News & Events, Policy

rx online A July 11th article in the Star Tribune reported on the proposed 362-foot landfill expansion in Burnsville by Waste Management—a mountain of waste looming more than 30 stories over the Minnesota River. Along with creating an ugly eyesore along an essential waterway, this expansion will pollute our land, water, and air for decades,…

Minnesota’s landfill problem: What can be done?

7 Feb 2017 Environmental Impact, Policy

rx online Across the world, forward-thinking cities, municipalities, and lawmakers are thinking about landfill waste in new ways. In July, for example, Portland, Ore. became the first city in the country to ensure that valuable materials from demolished houses are salvaged for reuse instead of crushed and landfilled. Here in the Twin Cities, landfilling is becoming a growing…

Deconstruction and reuse can offset CO2 emissions in Minnesota

14 Mar 2016 Environmental Impact, Policy

rx online A 2015 Yale University study shows that 12.8 percent of total materials in landfills is construction and demolition waste. Of those building materials, nearly 80 percent could have been recycled or reused. Better Futures Minnesota’s deconstruction services recycles or reuses 75 to 85 percent of all building materials. In 2015, through our deconstruction services…