Going on more than four days without food, three activists on a hunger strike sat in the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners’ waiting room Monday trying to get a meeting with a board member.
Noticeably weakened and moving slowly, the strikers told Sahan Journal they feel strengthened by the outpouring of support from community members. But so far, the strike aimed at closing the county-owned trash incinerator in Minneapolis hasn’t generated much dialogue between those forgoing food and the people with the power to close the trash burner.
“They’re not willing to even talk to us,” said striker Nazir Khan of the commissioners.
Since launching their strike on April 10 demanding that commissioners set a date to close the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, known as the HERC, strikers have had dozens of conversations with members of the public. They’ve held events at churches and libraries. They’ve passed out flyers and shared research about the harmful effects of burning trash on human health and the environment.
The strikers believe they needed to escalate the issue. In 2023, Hennepin County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution declaring they would close the HERC sometime between 2028 and 2040. But the commissioners haven’t voted on a closure date within that window.
The Zero Burn Coalition, the alliance of environmental and labor groups behind the strike, wants the board to hold a public vote this year to close the HERC. They are urging commissioners to close the HERC by 2028.
“I wish it hadn’t come to this,” striker Natasha Villanueva told Sahan Journal. “I wish commissioners would just believe neighbors who have been asking to close this facility for years.”
But commissioners are hesitant to set that date. They want to see more progress on county goals to move toward zero waste, which officials define as 90% of waste being recycled or composted instead of being burned or dumped in a landfill. Today, just under 50% of waste generated in Hennepin County is recycled and composted instead of being sent to the HERC or landfills.
About half of all trash from Hennepin County is burned at the HERC. County and state officials prefer incineration to using landfills, which produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
“I don’t want to set an arbitrary date for closure and end up sending 360,000 tons of trash to a landfill,” Commissioner Angela Conley told Sahan Journal.
Hunger pangs
The hunger pangs come and go, said striker Joshua Lewis. At times, he feels lightheaded, has headaches, and feels an acidic emptiness in his stomach.
Khan, who serves as executive director of the nonprofit, Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, said his hunger subsided about halfway through the fourth day. Two days after he attempted to speak with commissioners Monday, Khan shared an update saying he’s lost about 13 pounds in six days. He feels weak and lethargic.
“It feels like I have the flu,” he said, adding that he doesn’t experience fever and vomiting.
But the strikers are drawing strength and resolve from community members. Khan said he’s taking action for people who live near the incinerator who are dealing with chronic health issues and raising children with asthma. The incinerator is adjacent to Target Field in downtown Minneapolis, close to apartment buildings and residential neighborhoods on the near north side along Interstate 94.
“They can’t be here, but I know they’re with us,” Khan said of community members affected by the incinerator.
Medical professionals are checking in on the strikers daily by monitoring blood sugar levels and vitals. Khan, Villanueva and Lewis are staying together at a home in north Minneapolis. They’re attending events throughout Hennepin County, and spending time every day trying to engage commissioners at the Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.
“We are trying to wake up the community to this issue and to waste,” Khan said.
Janet Kitui, an Edina resident who planned to go on hunger strike, had to travel to her native Kenya due to a death in the family.
A sense of urgency
The hunger strikers and their supporters feel a firm closure date is needed to get the county to commit to waste reduction efforts.
But commissioners say they are committed to both zero-waste plans and the goal of shuttering the HERC. Conley said the county will withhold solid waste grant funding from cities that aren’t setting and keeping up with waste reduction goals. She also wants to issue fines to large waste producers to hold them accountable.
“We don’t have to set a date to create urgency; the urgency is already there from the board actions,” Conley said.
On Monday, as the hunger strikers waited outside of the county commissioners offices, Conley called Bonnie Beckel, a member of the Zero Burn Coalition who was with the strikers. Beckel put the call on speaker phone and discussed the HERC and the hunger strike with the commissioner for about 25 minutes.
Conley told Beckel that her goal is to move aggressively on zero waste issues to reduce the need for the HERC without increasing the use of landfills, and said she thinks it will happen well before 2040. But she doesn’t know exactly when, and won’t call a vote to set a closure date.
“You and I can agree that it needs to go, but where we disagree is on the way to get there,” Conley told Beckel.
Conley represents much of south Minneapolis and says she feels the impact of redlining that historically placed communities of color adjacent to highways and industrial facilities. She agrees the incinerator should not be in the middle of a densely populated area. Conley said while she respects the hunger strike and the right to protest, her position isn’t changing.
Conely said she’s busy working to secure funding at the state Capitol for the Hennepin County Medical Center, and won’t have time to meet with the strikers.
Commissioner Marion Greene, who represents parts of downtown and southwest Minneapolis and the western suburbs, said in an email to Sahan Journal that she hasn’t met with strikers in person since they started. Greene said she will continue to push to advance waste reduction efforts.
“I take this hunger strike extremely seriously. I’ve been in correspondence with the group well before the strike began and have urged them to reconsider,” Greene said. “It is not the county’s unilateral decision to make to turn the lights out at the HERC, and both the strikers and the county share the ultimate goal of closure.”
The hunger strikers maintain that the county board does have authority to close the HERC, which the county owns and controls.
“We deserve clean air to breathe,” Lewis said.
