The Newport City Council met Thursday, Oct. 2, covering much business.
Among items included in the night’s agenda was a rescheduled presentation by the Ramsey/Washington Recycling and Energy Center, originally set for July.
Purchased by Ramsey and Washington Counties in 2016, the Center processes waste in Newport at 100 Red Rock Road.
Presented by Center Executive Director Trista Martinson, Facility Manager Sam Holl, and Nathan Klett of Foth Companies, the presentation gave several highlights on the local recycling operation.
“When we talk about what we do, we’re not here to make money, we’re here to increase diversion from landfill,” Holl said following a brief intro by Martinson.
Among statistics shared in support of this are that the Center manages 400,000-450,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) each year, while recovering 14,000 tons of metals from the trash. The Center is beginning to recover food scraps as well, and also produces refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to generate electricity at Xcel Energy Power Plants. All told, the Center manages nearly 14 percent of the state’s total waste.
Among benefits cited for the Newport facility re that it creates jobs, supports the local economy, reduces landfilling, increases recycling, enables trash to be used to generate electricity, and produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than landfilling.
As for broader impact, statistics from 2024 show that 99,893 metric tons of carbon dioxide was avoided by not sending trash to landfills, deemed the equivalent of taking 22,142 cars off the road for a year. The equivalent of 12,878 homes are powered for a year by electricity from fuel produced at the R&E Center, with 13,092 tons of metal recovered for recycling. The Center monitors for odor, with zero odor exceedances for 2024, achieving its stated goal to not have an odor exceedance more than once per six-month period.
“We’re always thinking about what else we can do and how we can continue to be good neighbors here in Newport,” Martinson shared with the council.
The Center is looking at an area on the river for possible expansion on a currently dormant site encompassing about 140 acres.