After a 15-minute discussion and presentation last week, the Sherburne County Board approved going ahead with design and engineering for a permanent household hazardous waste (HHW) facility.
The county currently holds periodic mobile household hazardous waste collection events, but does not have its own permanent facility.
The primary function of the facility would be residential collection of HHW and recyclables (possibly metal, cardboard, problem materials, etc.) through drop off.
A feasibility study done by HDR has determined that there is a need for a permanent HHW facility in Sherburne County. County staff have toured numerous facilities to develop an idea of where and what the facility in the county could look like.
Although no site has been selected, the preferred permanent HHW facility would be a south Zimmerman location. That site would service the largest population. The secondary location would be in Elk River.
No specific parcels have been identified at the time, since there is still discussion on the scope of the facility in terms of the possibility of co-locating with another organization. Some of those partnerships include Tri-Cap, vehicle parking,
Zimmerman Public School District equipment storage, Soil and Water Conservation District office spaces and county public works storage or office spaces.
Jerome Doede of planning and zoning said there would be no processing at the site, other than possibly paint mixing.
“The collection would just be taking in items from residents, sorting and possibly sending off to different transfer stations and recycling facilities. There would no processing on site,” he said. “In addition to that we may include a reuse room. This is a very popular thing amongst HHW facilities in the area.”
He also recommended that members of the board join staff on a tour of the Washington County HHW facility.
“We feel that it’s the closest one that models what we would like to see here in our county,” he said.
Staff research shows that 48% of county residents could drive to the potential site in Zimmerman in 15 minutes. For the Elk River location, that number is 42%.
Commissioner Gregg Felber said selecting the location is secondary to getting the design completed.
“What I want to focus on is getting plans for the facility up and going because this is a significant step towards diverting a lot of toxic waste from our landfills,” he said, “so people aren’t just burying their paint cans in the trash can and then sending them off.”
Other Business
In other actions the board:
• Approved the Child and Teen Check-Up Amendment between Sherburne County and the MN Dept. of Human Services in order to receive $198,061 for services provided during grant budget year (1/1/25- 12/31/25). The agreement supports early and periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment;
• Approved an Agreement with BreezyNotes to act as the Electronic Health Record (EHR) and billing mechanism for the new mental health clinical services business line in HHS. The technology is a tool that helps group and solo therapy practices manage scheduling, documentation, billing and more;
• Approved a budget amendment to the Low Interest Loan Program for Failing Septic Systems to increase available funding from the current $750,000 to $950,000. To date, the county has processed 47 applications for a total of $772,626 in loans. The funding comes from landfill host fees, so there is no levy impact for the program;
• Accepted the 2024-25 Toward Zero Death (TZD) Safe Roads Grant from the MN Dept. of Public Safety in the amount of $9,250 for the period of Oct. 1, 2024 through Sept. 30, 2025.
