Existence of minimal hypersurfaces in complete manifolds of finite volume

We prove that every complete non-compact manifold of finite volume contains a (possibly non-compact) minimal hypersurface of finite volume. The main tool is the following result of independent interest: if a region $U$ can be swept out by a family of hypersurfaces of volume at most $V$, then it can be swept out by a family of mutually disjoint hypersurfaces of volume at most $V + \varepsilon$.