|
About 40% of food in the U.S. is wasted somewhere along the supply chain. Just here in Hennepin County, we throw away enough edible food each year to fill Target Field 1.5 times!
You may be surprised to learn that much of that food waste happens at home. The average person spends $500 every year on food they’ll never eat and just end up throwing away.
Wasting food wastes a ton of resources - including all of the money spent on it and the energy and water it takes to grow, process, and transport it. Preventing wasted food is the best opportunity to reduce our trash and is a surprisingly powerful climate solution.
 Hennepin County is taking a multifaceted approach to reducing wasted food. Recent work includes:
- Hiring a food waste reduction specialist who will focus on establishing a target and plan to reduce wasted food and increase food rescue.
- Conducting research to identify gaps and opportunities to connect more surplus, edible food to people in need and increasing responsiveness to community needs to highly nutritious and culturally significant food. See the food rescue report (PDF) to explore the research findings and recommendations.
- Developing a broad campaign to motivate residents to take action to reduce wasted food.
Act now: Take the Stop Food Waste Challenge
 Join the Stop Food Waste Challenge now to commit to actions that will help you save money, improve your cooking skills, provide for your family, and fight climate change.
Make it more fun: team up to fight food waste by encouraging family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to join you. The challenge runs from August 1 through August 31.
 Hennepin County is a unique area. With 200 lakes, 640 miles of streams, three major rivers, 45,000 acres of wetlands and 50 public water accesses, there are so many opportunities to enjoy being on and around water.
Celebrate all the activities you enjoy in and around Hennepin County lakes while protecting them from aquatic invasive species. These species can harm native fish and plant populations and impact our health, recreation, property values, and the economy.
Whether you enjoy boating, fishing, hiking, kayaking, sailing, swimming wakeboarding, walking your pet, or tending to your aquarium at home, everyone can take steps to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.
Join more than 700 of your neighbors on the free Lake Pledge site and app to learn what you can do to protect Hennepin County lakes.
When you register, select the lake you use most often. Then select the ways you enjoy spending time on the water in any lake in the county.
We recently launched a newsletter, Conservation Connection, focused on rural conservation and land management in Hennepin County. This newsletter will include funding and technical support opportunities, resources, tips, and project features.
 The first edition included information on soil testing, conservation easement and cost-share funding, controlling common and cutleaf thistle, cultivating butterfly weed, fun facts about the norther prairie skink, and more!
Subscribe to Conservation Connection to receive future updates.
Breaking barriers and advancing zero waste in home remodeling
Petrina Rhines, the founder and executive director of the nonprofits the Birch Group and Scrapbox Salvage Company, was recently featured on Kare11 for her work to salvage and reuse building materials. The Birch Group is a deconstruction company that dismantles buildings to recover materials for recycling and reuse, and Scrapbox Salvage is a building material reuse store.
Rhines got started in this work after buying her first home in Minneapolis and restoring it rather than letting it be demolished. She is now breaking barriers by showing that women have a place in the deconstruction industry.
Interested in salvaging and reusing building materials? Hennepin County offers grants for deconstruction and installing used building materials at both residential and commercial properties.
Hazardous waste collection events
 There are two remaining community collection events in 2023 for county residents to dispose of unwanted garden and household hazardous wastes safely and properly.
Events will take place Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the following dates:
- August 11 and 12 at Henry High School in Minneapolis
- September 22 and 23 at the Hennepin County Public Works Orono Shop
Before you go, check health and safety guidelines and the list of acceptable materials at hennepin.us/collectionevents.
 We’ll soon be entering peak growing season – the rare time of year when gardeners and farmers may be overwhelmed by an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Don’t let the food you have worked hard to grow and harvest go to waste!
|
