March 2026

Inside the Newsletter:

Floor Sanitation | Reuse Success Story | SCWO Pilot Project | Events | Funding Opportunities

Floor Sanitization: Pollution Prevention with Food Safety in Mind

Food safety is critical for food manufacturers, as bacterial contamination can cause products to be inedible or toxic, potentially resulting in added costs in disposal and legal action. Bactericidal chemicals are applied on floors to ensure sanitization, while foot foamers at doorways prevent contamination from being tracked across a facility.

MnTAP and MPCA recently completed work on a grant from the U.S. EPA to study pollution prevention in food manufacturing, during which MnTAP investigated floor sanitizer use at multiple facilities. MnTAP’s work identified the following three best practices for reducing chemical use associated with foot foamers:

1. Ensure proper chemical concentration: Instructions for sanitation chemicals often specify the ratio at which the chemical should be diluted for various uses. Facility food safety protocols ensure that sanitizers are not over-diluted; however, care should be taken to use the necessary and recommended dosage to prevent wasting chemicals.
2. Ensure proper chemical volume: Foot foamers are often set to spray at regular intervals to ensure a continuous layer of chemicals across an entryway. If the spray cycle is too frequent, excess chemicals may build up at entryways, so cycle timing can be adjusted as needed and tailored to the specific traffic in each entryway.
3. Ensure proper chemical coverage area: Trench drains are commonly located near entryways to prevent cleaning water and chemicals from entering or leaving an area. When foot foamers at these points are improperly positioned, floor sanitizers may inadvertently spray directly into a drain instead of onto a floor. Replacing slotted grate covers with solid covers or adjusting the spray angle of the foamer can ensure that chemicals are not being wasted.

In addition to the sanitizer savings opportunity associated with foot foamer optimization, reduced foamer use also results in lower chemical concentrations in wastewater, which can generate savings related to wastewater pretreatment. MnTAP is prepared and experienced to help your facility prevent chemical loss while maintaining food safety. Additional information on chemical reduction in sanitation, as well as other learnings associated with this grant, can be found in MnTAP’s resources for Food Processing Pollution Prevention.

Contact

Kevin Philpy  – Senior Engineer
 philp029@umn.edu
612-624-4678

Reuse Success Story: M Health Fairview Hospitals

Since December 2022, MnTAP has worked with the M Health Fairview Hospital system to donate items that are no longer needed from hospital rooms, commercial kitchens, and lobby areas. This partnership first started with the M Health Fairview Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, which had ceased its operations. Through sustained outreach efforts to reuse partners across the state, over 15,000 pounds of the hospital’s items were diverted from landfills and donated to nonprofits, manufacturers, and small businesses by the end of 2023.

Following the successful work with Bethesda, M Health Fairview Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury and M Health Fairview St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood expressed interest in donating items from their kitchens and storage spaces, which had a deadline of January 1, 2026, to be cleared. MnTAP moved quickly to accommodate this target, and in December 2025, MnTAP went on-site to photograph various items for the Minnesota Materials Exchange (MME). A sample of items that were photographed and posted on MME includes:

• Recycling and trash cans
• Cafeteria tables and chairs
• Plastic and metal storage tubs
• Steam table pots and pans
• Utensil dispensers
• Dunnage
• Small beverage dispensers
• Coffee carafes
• A jewelry rotating case
• Wooden displays
• Rolling carts
• Tin pans

Ultimately, more than 1,000 individual posted items were exchanged and found new homes at hospitals and nonprofits. Overall, this effort diverted more than 9,200 pounds of items, with an estimated value of approximately $15,000, from the landfill.

In the three years since the work began with M Health Fairview hospitals, MnTAP has helped them donate over 25,000 pounds of items through thousands of exchanges between participating organizations. Managers at both St. John’s Hospital and Woodwinds Hospital stated that receiving organizations had picked up all of their inventory, while Bethesda Hospital noted that the project was highly successful and that any remaining items had little potential to find a new home.

MnTAP runs MME at no cost, allowing organizations to post and receive items. Reuse is an excellent way to support businesses by keeping costs low for the receiving organizations while fostering goodwill and community among exchanging partners. Please continue to utilize the platform and watch for newsletters, which will promote various posted items. Jon Schroeder, MME administrator, is happy to answer any reuse questions and assist organizations with donating or selling items.

Contact

Jon Schroeder – Sustainable Materials Management Specialist
  jschro@umn.edu
612-624-4645

MnTAP’s Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) Pilot Project

MnTAP is partnering with Barr Engineering, the City of St. Cloud, the University of St. Thomas, and 374 Water on a full-scale pilot project to evaluate the potential for supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) to manage perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in biosolids and water treatment residuals. Not only can SWCO destroy PFAS in variety of wastes, but it also can recover energy. Funding for this project comes from the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).

What is SCWO?

SCWO stands for supercritical water oxidation. As temperature and pressure increase, liquid water converts to gas. When these temperatures and pressures rise even further, water vapor changes state once more, becoming what is known as the supercritical state of water. In this state, supercritical water very quickly breaks most chemical bonds within the reactor, including the bonds holding together PFAS compounds. PFAS are a class of fluorine containing human-synthesized chemicals that have been widely used in consumer and industrial products.

Why Test SCWO?

PFAS earned their nickname “forever chemicals” because they do not readily break down in the environment. Many of these chemicals have adverse impacts on human and animal life. Currently, there is no cost-effective method to treat these chemicals, with Dr. Ali Ling at the University of St. Thomas estimating that the total cost to remediate all PFAS in the environment would exceed the entire global GDP (Ling, 2014). We need a cost-effective solution to break down these forever chemicals.

This project aims to determine whether SCWO can break down PFAS in biosolids and wastewater sludge. Other initial tests that have utilized SCWO show promise in its ability to break down PFAS. Because these chemicals tend to bind to biosolids during regular wastewater treatment, this is a relatively good place to capture concentrated PFAS for treatment.

SCWO Energy Generation

Achieving high temperatures and pressures requires a significant amount of input energy. However, wastewater biosolids and sludges also contain a considerable amount of energy, and when the SCWO process breaks the chemical bonds within the feedstock, it releases most, if not all, of the latent energy contained in the feedstock. This creates an opportunity to generate energy and recover heat from the reaction.

MnTAP’s role in this project is to quantify the amount of total energy generated from this reaction and to estimate how much of it could be converted back into useful electricity and heat. MnTAP will also consider other strategies to help make SCWO more cost effective. If this technology can be shown to be even somewhat cost-effective, it would make large-scale SCWO installations much more likely and potentially provide the world with a feasible solution to treat PFAS.

Contact

Jon Vanyo, CEM – Senior Engineer
  jvanyo@umn.edu
612-624-4683

Events

2026 RAM/SWANA Conference
RAM/SWANA

April 1, 2026 at 8:00 AM to April 4, 2026 at 4:00 PM

Location: Mystic Lake Center, 2400 Mystic Lake Boulevard, Prior Lake, MN 55372
Cost: $450 to $600 depending on membership and timing of registering

The RAM/SWANA Conference & Show is the premier recycling and waste management conference in the Upper Midwest. Please join us at the conference – a great opportunity for professional development, networking and industry education! Session topics include recycling, solid waste, organics, hazardous waste, and waste prevention or reduction. Learn more and register on this website.

Turf Grass Maintenance Certification Training
MPCA

April 2, 2026, 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Virtual, No Cost

The summer turf grass maintenance training focuses on best management practices (BMPs) for lawns and turf. You will learn how turf management affects local lakes and rivers, equipment calibration, selection and application of fertilizers, mowing techniques, pesticide application tips, legal issues and additional resources. Who should attend: contractors maintaining private/public grounds, employees maintaining park, cemetery, city or school grounds, property managers writing contracts, and distributors of turf care products.  Learn more and register on this MPCA website.

Hazardous Waste Generator Workshop
MPCA

April 7, 2026, 12:00 PM- 4:00 PM (Register by March 31)

Location: MPCA Brainerd office, 7678 College Road, Suite 105, Brainerd, 56425
Cost: In person, $25

This 10-step introduction to hazardous waste (HW) management and compliance with Minnesota rules is designed for newcomers to the HW field and those who need a refresher. It covers how to determine whether a waste is hazardous, along with topics on handling, storage, transportation, emergency planning, employee training, and record-keeping requirements for those hazardous wastes. A free, online-only version of this training is available year-round. Learn more and register on this MPCA website.

Funding Opportunities

• CSFS: Equipment/vehicle replacement grant (MPCA): Deadline is 4:00 PM CT on March 27, 2026. For public, private, and nonprofit owners of fossil fuel on-road and off-road equipment and vehicles that are used within food systems in Minnesota interested in partial funding for new, cleaner versions of these equipment and vehicles. Vehicle charging equipment and installation costs for replacement vehicles are eligible. This grant aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and replace fossil fuel equipment and vehicles with zero-emission technology.
• CSFS: Statewide organics management infrastructure grant: Deadline is 4:00 PM CT on April 15, 2026. The MPCA has approximately $10 million available to support organics management infrastructure projects across the state that will expand infrastructure capacity for composting source-separated organic materials (SSOM) in Minnesota, with a focus on wasted food and food scraps. This grant program aims to reduce the amount of organic material being disposed of through landfilling or incineration by funding projects that expand composting capacity either through the creation of new compost infrastructure or the expansion of capacity within existing compost infrastructure.
• CSFS: Statewide prevention of wasted food and food rescue grant: Deadline is April 28, 2026. The MPCA has approximately $12.5 million available to decrease the amount of food being wasted across the state through projects that will prevent wasted food from being generated, prevent food from going to waste, or projects that rescue edible food from disposal and redirect it for human consumption. In line with the waste hierarchy, it is first preferable to prevent wasted food, followed by donating food to people. This grant supports projects that will result in an increase in the amount of wasted food that is prevented or is rescued for human consumption in Minnesota. The MPCA invites eligible applicants to submit project applications that expand existing or establish new prevention of wasted food and/or food rescue projects in Minnesota.
• Solid Waste Processing Facilities Capital Assistance Program: CAP provides financial and technical assistance to local governments to encourage investment in the proper management of solid waste. Eligible applicants are Minnesota cities, counties, solid waste management districts, and sanitary districts. Eligible projects are facilities that advance efforts to reduce waste, reuse materials, and recover resources.
• Environmental assistance loans for capital costs associated with environmental processes and technologies (MPCA & private financial institutions)
• Small business environmental improvement loans [0% interest for capital equipment purchases] (MPCA)
• Funding for brownfield investigation (MPCA)
• Clean Water Partnership loans (MPCA): Second-tier loans allow local entities to make loans to landowners and other stakeholders.
• Business Pollution Prevention Program [Up to $50,000 or up to 75% of project costs] (BizRecycling and formerly Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy and MN Chamber of Commerce Waste Wise): Consider this opportunity if your business uses or produces any of the following chemicals with volatile organic compounds (VOCs); perchloroethylene (PERC); trichloroethylene (TCE); ground level ozone; fine particulate matter (PM2.5); or hazardous air pollutants (HAPs).
• Waste Reduction & Innovation Grants (BizRecycling): Up to $50,000 for eligible businesses, schools, and colleges to reduce waste through reuse, technology enhancements, or production redesign.
• Food Recovery Grants (BizRecycling): Up to $20,000 for eligible food businesses, food shelves, and farmers markets to recover surplus edible food to distribute to people in need.
• Recycling Grants (BizRecycling): Up to $10,000 for eligible businesses and up to $20,000 for eligible apartment buildings to improve recycling and food waste collection.
• Bin-Only Grants (BizRecycling): Helps small businesses kickstart or improve recycling and organics collection with up to $2,500 in trash, recycling, and organics bins and equipment.
• Safety Grant Program [Up to $10,000] (MNOSHA WSC): For projects designed to reduce the risk of illness or injury to their employees. Applications are reviewed over two-month intervals.