Minnesota county breaks ground on new $21M waste transfer station

Construction of a new 17-acre Resource Recovery Campus is currently underway in Clay County, Minnesota, reports The Forum.

The $21 million facility, which includes a waste transfer station, recycling center and offices, is expected to streamline recycling and trash operations and make it easier for residents to dispose of their recyclables, hazardous waste, electronics and trash.

The facility will ease the process for waste haulers who annually transfer 9,400 tons of trash from Moorhead and surrounding towns to the Prairie Lakes Incinerator and 20,000 tons to the Clay County landfill near Hawley.

Clay County Solid Waste Director Kirk Rosenberger told The Forum the new transfer station will provide a sorting area where workers can remove problem waste, such as mattresses, furniture, tires and electronics. This is expected to be a major improvement over the county’s previous operation of hauling directly to the landfill and will allow for "cleaner" trash to be transferred to the Perham Resource Recovery Facility, thus helping extend the life of the county landfill.

In addition to the new transfer station, the facility will have a shredder for mattresses, carpet and furniture, providing easier handling of trash taken to Perham, said Rosenberger told The Forum.

Once separated, the "cleaner trash" will be loaded onto semitrucks that drive into a tunnel on the west side of the building about 20 feet below ground level and the tipping floor. Trash can then easily be pushed and loaded into the semis before they head to Perham or the landfill.

As for hazardous and electronic waste disposal, solid waste department offices will separate the transfer station from the hazardous waste and electronics collection site on the south side of the facility.

Funding the construction

Rosenberger, who has been working on the project since he started the job six years ago, said the state provided the county about $600,000 to start plans for the structure seven years ago.

Last year, the state legislature provided $8.5 million through a bonding bill to help build the campus. The county plans to use another $3.5 million from its solid waste reserve funds and then bond for the rest.

The contract for the construction is capped at $21 million, with Construction Engineers of Grand Forks winning a bid for the work, Rosenberger told the newspaper. The company has also built the county's jail, law enforcement center and regional juvenile detention facility.

Company project manager Jeff Reid, who just opened an office on the site, told The Forum crews have spent the last few weeks working on underground utilities and digging the 20-foot deep tunnel.

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Workers are also constructing roads into the site. The foundations for the new building should be poured by late fall and they have already ordered the pre-engineered metal buildings that will follow.

Work on the facility is expected to be completed by August 2022. The county will hold a groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 3.

*A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the Perham Resource Recovery Facility as the "Perham Incinerator." This has been corrected to reflect the operations of the facility.