Why is Minneapolis investing $1.5 million in "biochar"?

The City of Minneapolis is making a major investment into the biochar business.

So what is biochar ? It's a charcoal-like material made from wood waste that is super heated and used to absorb toxins, and carbon dioxide and is mainly used to promote healthy soil.

Program Manager Jim Doten says Minneapolis is one of seven cities in the world to receive grant funding for biochar projects, and the city will use the funds to build a first of its kind municipally-owned production facility.

"Making it available for city and government projects and reuse the wood waste that we are already generating," he says.

Doten says the move could solve a major problem already plaguing Minnesota.

"With emerald ash borer, the whole wood waste balance in the Twin Cities is it's out of kilter," says Doten. "We're in crisis mode to be honest. And this helps manage our urban wood waste."

Doten, who has advocated for a local facility for years, says he brought some of what he learned in his time in Afghanistan to Minneapolis.

"I came across it working as a hydrologist on an agri-business development team in Afghanistan with the National Guard," he explained. "So I was looking at the soils and realizing that the state of the soils was horrible. And it was leading to a lot of the instability because you can't feed your family. Biochar was one of the things I came across and started setting up a village-level program.

The $1.5 million facility is set to open next fall. City officials say the new facility will to eliminate 3,600 tons of wood waste each year.