Do we "need" more trash?

The City of Red Wing is dealing with an interesting quandary: apprently, the Waste-to-Energy facility in the city is in danger of being shut down, because it is not operating efficiently enough. When looking at the reasons, it appears as though the plant is not running at full capacity, thus losing money. It's an interesting problem - do people recycle more, so there is less trash to burn? Or do the garbage haulers prefer the landfill for dumping, because the tipping fees are lower than the incinerator's fees? My guess is it's a combination of both. Red Wing is looking to the State for a law that would mandate more trash to be burned, but that is not exactly in the plans right now. The City is also trying to convince neighboring communities to send their trash to Red Wing, but again, that would mean higher costs to the households. If the plant would get shut down, it would most likely mean more trash in the landfills. And since the employees at the Waste-to-Energy plant also filter out recyclables before burning the trash, there would also be more waste on that end.

If your garbage hauler currently dumps the trash collected in the landfill, it might be a good idea to let them know you'd like your trash to go to Red Wing. I realize it would take a large group of customers to make any change happen, but if nobody speaks up, nothing will happen.