Minnesota's New Compost Laws

Minnesota is not just implementing a new waste policy; it is fundamentally redesigning the economic and logistical architecture of its entire organic waste stream. This system overhaul moves aggressively away from the century-old "bury-or-burn" disposal model and establishes a new closed-loop system designed for resiliency and major climate impact.

The state’s strategy rests on two powerful, integrated policy pillars that tackle the core challenges of organic waste diversion: poor feedstock quality (contamination) and unstable funding.

1. The Compostable Product Labeling Law (Minn. Stat. § 325E.046): This law is a direct response to contamination, strictly regulating what can be sold as "compostable" in the state, guaranteeing a cleaner input for composting facilities.

2. The Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act (Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR): This revolutionary funding mechanism shifts financial responsibility from taxpayers and local governments to the product manufacturers, guaranteeing a stable budget to fund collection and processing, covering at least 90% of those costs.

By connecting these mandates, Minnesota ensures that stable funding and high-quality feedstock are available as municipalities ramp up collection services. The state is aiming for a 75% recycling and composting rate by 2030, an ambitious target that requires this comprehensive, integrated approach.

Key Milestones: A Timeline for Minnesota Organics Compliance

The shift to a circular economy is phased, giving manufacturers and municipalities time to adapt. Understanding these deadlines is critical for anyone operating in or selling into the Minnesota market.

Why Organics Matter for Climate Action

Minnesota’s regulatory urgency is rooted in environmental necessity. Organic materials—everything from food scraps to compostable packaging—make up approximately 25 percent of the state’s municipal trash stream. This material, when buried in a landfill, decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen) and generates methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas. Diverting these organics to controlled composting facilities dramatically reduces methane emissions, placing organic waste diversion at the heart of the state’s climate strategy.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is driving this change with clear, measurable goals:

• Achieve a 75% recycling and composting rate statewide by 2030.

• Cut the amount of food wasted in Minnesota in half by 2030, measured against 2013 levels.

This aggressive focus explains the significant public investment. The state has committed approximately $60 million through its Climate Smart Food Systems program to support industrial innovation, efficiency improvements, and capacity expansion for food and organic material processing sites. This investment is fundamentally designed to reduce climate pollution, ensuring that the return on investment is measured in both tonnage diverted and avoided greenhouse gas emissions.

Clean Feedstock is Key: The Compostable Labeling Law

For years, composting facilities have battled contamination, primarily caused by misleadingly labeled food service products. Consumers, attempting to do the right thing, often "wish-cycle" non-compostable plastics into the organics stream, which compromises the finished compost quality and adds significant operational costs for contamination removal.

Stopping "Wish-Cycling" at the Source

The Compostable Product Labeling Law (Minn. Stat. § 325E.046) directly addresses this contamination blockade.

1. Banning Vague Terms: The law prohibits the sale of products labeled with scientifically inaccurate terms like "biodegradable," "degradable," or "decomposable" on bags, packaging, and food service products sold in Minnesota.

2. Mandatory Certification: Starting January 1, 2026, any product labeled as "compostable" and sold in the state must be certified compostable by an approved nonprofit third party.2 The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) is currently identified as the leading organization meeting this certification standard.

3. Industrial Standards: From day one (Jan 1, 2025), products must be made entirely of wood or paper without additives, or meet specific industrial composting standards (like ASTM D6400 or D6868).

This enforcement provides a clear, uniform, and legally enforceable standard that facility operators can trust. When finished compost is ready to sell, it cannot contain more than three percent inert materials (by dry weight)1 By enforcing strict labeling on manufacturers, the state minimizes the input of non-compliant materials, protecting the multi-million-dollar investments in new facilities from batch failures or permit violations.

Consumer Advisory: While the law mandates what products can be sold as compostable, the MPCA advises that consumers must always confirm acceptance with their local county or composting site, as local processing limitations may still apply.

IV. The Financial Anchor: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

The most transformative piece of the Minnesota compost laws is the financial security provided by the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, known as the Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act (Minn. Stat. § 115A.144-115A.1463).

Shifting the Cost Burden from Taxpayers to Producers

This law mandates that producers—the brand owner, manufacturer, or importer—of packaging, food packaging, and paper products must join a designated Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), which is a nonprofit. The MPCA has already selected the Circular Action Alliance (CAA) as the designated PRO.

The critical financial shift is the mandatory cost reimbursement. The PRO is required to reimburse service providers, which include local governments, schools, and housing providers, for at least 90% of the costs associated with the end-of-life management of covered materials. This includes collection, transportation, sorting, and, crucially, composting.

This producer-funded revenue stream resolves the primary financial conflict cities face when implementing mandates, such as the required curbside organics collection in the Twin Cities metro area. Where previous mandates caused concern about rising utility bills for residents, the EPR funding guarantees that local governments can confidently enforce and expand services without major cost impacts to the local budget.

Incentivizing Design for Circularity

The financial structure is designed not just to pay for cleanup, but to encourage better design. Producers face fees that are modulated based on their product’s environmental footprint. They are financially rewarded for:

• Eliminating intentionally added toxic substances.

• Increasing postconsumer recycled content.

• Enhancing the overall recyclability or compostability of their packaging.

This system culminates in the 2032 deadline, requiring all covered materials sold in Minnesota to be part of a defined circularity pathway: refillable, reusable, recyclable, or compostable. This is a powerful, decade-long signal forcing manufacturers away from disposable items that have no end-of-life management system.

Building the Infrastructure: Twin Cities Waste Diversion and Investment

With funding secured and feedstock quality addressed, the state is now focusing on ensuring that every resident has access to the new system and that sufficient processing infrastructure exists. The state acknowledges a current deficit in processing capacity  and is backing the mandates with heavy public funding. The MPCA is using its $60 million Climate Smart Food Systems fund to expand infrastructure capacity for composting and food-to-livestock operations. This includes technical assistance grants, planning funds, and a dedicated organics management revolving loan program.

Mandates for Universal Access

The Metro Solid Waste Policy Plan requires a rapid expansion of collection services, mandating that residential curbside organics collection must be available in all cities within the seven-county metro area with a population exceeding 5,000 by 2030.This push for universal access is considered non-negotiable for hitting the state's diversion goals.

For example, cities like Long Lake are transitioning from a previous mandatory charge system by licensed haulers to a city-contracted service provider (Waste Management), allowing residents to opt-in and pay a reduced rate through their utility bill. The incoming EPR reimbursements will further smooth this financial transition for local governments.

A Green Job Engine for Minnesota

The resource recovery sector is proving to be a powerful engine for green jobs in the state. While the recycling manufacturing sector already supports over 27,000 direct jobs in Minnesota, the dedicated composting industry supports four to eight times more jobs on a per-ton basis compared to traditional landfilling operations. This is a labor-intensive, localized industry generating $148 million in gross economic activity per year. The mandated collection expansion and infrastructure build-out are poised to rapidly accelerate job creation in this specific sector.

The Road Ahead

Minnesota currently ranks fourth nationally in the number of residential food waste collection access programs (42 programs), demonstrating a strong foundation for this new legislative push.18 However, the state’s ultimate success hinges on how effectively it manages implementation challenges and secures public buy-in.