Prairie Lakes Municipal Solid Waste Authority provides waste processing at the Perham Resource Recovery Facility in Perham, MN for five counties as an alternative solution to landfilling. Explore the areas below to learn more about us and our mission.
About Our Facility
Prairie Lakes Municipal Solid Waste Authority provides waste processing at the Perham Resource Recovery Facility in Perham, MN for five counties as an alternative solution to landfilling. Resource recovery is a leading global technology and a more preferred method of waste management, as opposed to landfilling, in accordance with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)*. Resource recovery (also commonly referred to as waste-to-energy) burns municipal solid waste (MSW), also called garbage, and uses it to generate steam. This steam can be used directly as a heating source, or it can turn a turbine to produce electricity. This process helps reduce the volume of MSW and generates energy at the same time.
Waste Reduction
Renewable Energy Generation
Sustainable Resource Management
Prairie Lakes Municipal Solid Waste Authority is a vital part of our integrated waste management system which includes solid waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and household hazardous waste management and disposal. In addition, the Perham Resource Recovery Facility has continuous emissions monitoring to ensure full compliance with state and federal regulations. The facility recycles 1200 tons of material per year and sells 1 million pounds of steam per day to local businesses (Tuffy’s Pet Foods and Bongards Creameries), while also employing 33 full time staff members.
The counties that share ownership and utilize the Perham Resource Recovery Facility include Becker, Clay, Otter Tail, Todd, and Wadena.
*For more information regarding the MPCA’s approach to waste management and the waste management hierarchy, see their website.
Our History
Due to increasing concern about a lack of landfill space, groundwater contamination, and the public taking a “Not In My Backyard” stance toward landfills, many communities began to look for alternatives to landfilling solid waste in the 1980s.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, as many as 46 counties in Minnesota sent their waste to 17 facilities such as Municipal Waste Incinerators, Municipal Waste Compost Facilities, and Refuse Derived Fuel Facilities.
The Perham Resource Recovery Facility began operations in 1986. The facility incinerated waste and supplied energy in the form of steam to Tuffy’s Pet Foods and Land O’ Lakes until July of 1998, when it was no longer able to meet the permit requirements for air emissions standards.
In December of 1998, the original owners donated the facility and the property to the City of Perham. Soon thereafter, the City of Perham, Otter Tail County, and the surrounding three counties made a decision to apply for state grant funding and to reconstruct and reopen the Perham Resource Recovery Facility under the governance of the Prairie Lakes Municipal Solid Waste Authority.
With the assistance of state funding the facility was reconstructed, including state of the art air emissions equipment, new combustion technology, improved ash handling, and the ability to generate electric energy as a revenue source. After an extensive shake down, the facility has been operational since 2002 and meets or exceeds all new proposed air quality standards.
County & Industry Information
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