Hennepin Energy Recovery Center

The Hennepin Energy Recovery Center also called HERC is a waste-to-energy plant in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Following changes to state law in 1980 that prioritized incinerating garbage over directly filling landfills, HERC was developed and began generating electricity in 1989.

The Hennepin County board voted to develop a plan to close the facility between 2028 and 2040 with activists advocating for an earlier closure.

[2] The center replaced a Greyhound Lines bus maintenance facility and at the time there were few people living nearby.

[8] Reworld operated the facility from opening in 1989 until 2018 when Great River Energy began managing the center.

[15][16] Environmental activists had fought against expanding the amount of trash incinerated and 2013 mayoral candidates had been divided on their opinion on whether to approve increase burning.

[19] Environmental justice organizers criticized the climate action plan and the decision to continue to operate HERC.