The first of its kind in the country, a Twin Cities campaign encouraging local companies to make the switch to reusable transport packaging, called There's a Better Way, was created by the Twin Cities Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board (SWMCB) in partnership with the Reusable Pallet Container Coalition (RPCC) headquartered in Washington, D.C. Consistent with national trends reported by the Environmental Protection Agency (Washington), the amount of garbage generated in Minnesota by the 2.6 million residents in the Twin Cities - including Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding suburbs - is growing steadily. The SWMCB, representing six counties in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, is responsible for developing policies and programs for managing this waste. The SWMCB managed 3.3 million tons of garbage in 2001, and it is projected that it will manage more than 5 million tons by 2017, said Victoria Reinhardt, Ramsey County Commissioner and Chair of the SWMCB's Reduction and Recycling Committee for the six-county area. "The garbage crisis in the Twin Cities is often overshadowed by other important public policy issues," Reinhardt said.
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