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Media contact: Alisa Reckinger, Environment and Energy, 612-348-4788
Media contact: Carolyn Collopy, Environment and Energy, 612-596-0993
Hennepin County is looking for households to participate in
its Zero Waste Challenge beginning this fall, an opportunity to get hands-on
help to make low-waste lifestyle changes.
The county seeks up to 50 households to participate in the
eight-month-long challenge that takes an in-depth look at the goods they buy
and waste they create to uncover opportunities and challenges to increase
recycling and reduce waste.
Zero Waste Challenge
participants learn a
lower-waste lifestyle
The challenge will build on the success of the Zero
Waste Challenge pilot that began in September 2016. The 35 households – 133
adults and children – who completed the first challenge decreased the amount of
waste they produced by 20 percent.
On average, households also recycled or composted 62 percent
of their waste, significantly more than the countywide diversion rate of 45
percent. About half of the households started composting their organic waste
due to the challenge.
The DeCamillis family of St. Louis Park, previous challenge
participants, focused on reducing food waste and diverting more waste to
organics recycling.
“There are a lot of things that I’ve always intended in my
life to be better at, but having a challenge like this has helped me to just
start doing it,” said Joe DeCamillis.
Although many people know reducing waste lowers their impact
on the environment and reduces the amount of stuff they have to deal with,
taking action can be hard. The Zero Waste Challenge offers guidance to make
those lifestyle changes.
 Ali DeCamillis with her children at a Zero Waste workshop.
“The challenge was a really awesome opportunity to get some support. We were assigned a coordinator who did in-home assessments and answered our questions,” said Ali DeCamillis.
Another challenge participant, the Selton family of Crystal, went from barely recycling to maintaining a backyard composting bin and worm composting bin. They also started giving certificates for experiences rather than gifts for birthdays and holidays.
Participate in the next Zero Waste Challenge
Participating households will:
- Receive hands-on, personalized coaching to assess the waste generated in their homes, develop a customized waste reduction plan, and make low-waste lifestyle changes.
- Have opportunities to attend waste-reduction workshops on topics like low-waste shopping, green cleaners and backyard composting and get access to supplies and educational materials.
- Commit to tracking and reporting the waste their household generates for four weeks at the beginning and end of the challenge and make their best attempt to adopt actions to reduce the amount of waste created in their households.
The challenge will go from September 11, 2017, to April 30, 2018. The application deadline is Sunday, August 20, 2017.
Learn more and apply online at hennepin.us/zerowastechallenge.
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Note to editor: Photos and interviews available upon request.
Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/news.
Discover how we're making a difference in our communities at www.hennepin.us/stories.
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