Solid Waste Collection; Volume- or Weight-Based Pricing

Subdivision 1. Requirement. A local government unit that collects charges for solid waste collection directly from waste generators shall implement charges that increase as the volume or weight of the waste collected on site from each generator's residence or place of business increases. Subd. 2. Volume requirement. If a local government unit implements a pricing system based on volume instead of weight under subdivision 1, it shall determine a base unit size for an average small quantity household generator and establish a multiple unit pricing system that ensures that amounts of waste generated in excess of the base unit amount are priced higher than the base unit price. Subd. 3. Alternative. A local government unit may satisfy the requirements of this section by establishing at least three price categories for collection of household mixed municipal solid waste to include, for households that generate small volumes of waste, a waste collection unit that is smaller than and priced lower than for other generators if the local government unit: (1) operates or contracts for the operation of a residential recycling program that collects more categories of recyclable materials than required in section 115A.552; (2) has a residential participation rate in its recycling programs of at least 70 percent or in excess of the participation rate for the county in which it is located, whichever is greater; (3) is located in a county that has exceeded the recycling goals in section 115A.551; and (4) generates, by all waste generators in the city, an amount of mixed municipal solid waste that is managed by incineration, production of refuse-derived fuel, mixed municipal solid waste composting, or disposal that is no greater, in proportion to the total amount of waste managed as listed above by all waste generators in the county in which the city is located, than it was for calendar year 1993. Subd. 4. Exemption. (a) The commissioner may exempt a local government unit from the requirements of subdivision 1 if the county within which the local government unit is located has an approved solid waste management plan that concludes that variable rate pricing is not appropriate for that jurisdiction because it is inconsistent with other incentives and mechanisms implemented within the jurisdiction that are more effective in attaining the goals of this chapter to discourage on-site disposal, littering, and illegal dumping. (b) In the interim between revisions to the county solid waste management plan, the commissioner may exempt a local government unit from the requirements of subdivision 1 if the commissioner makes the determination otherwise made by the plan in paragraph (a) and finds that the local government unit: (1) operates or contracts for the operation of a residential recycling program that collects more categories of recyclable materials than required in section 115A.552; (2) has a residential participation rate in its recycling programs of at least 70 percent or in excess of the participation rate for the county in which it is located, whichever is greater; and (3) is located in a county that has exceeded the recycling goals in section 115A.551. (c) An exemption granted by the commissioner in the interim between revisions to the county solid waste management plan is only effective until the county solid waste management plan is revised.