 Create Catering and The Dining Studio received a Hennepin County business waste prevention grant in 2022. The catering company and event space operate out of the same business address and are owned by Philip Dorwart. Create Catering offers full-service catering throughout Minnesota while The Dining Studio is a private dining center with an open kitchen in Northeast Minneapolis. In addition to reducing wasted food from their operations, Create Catering also prepares ready-to-heat-and-eat meals for distribution to those in need through Kitchen Coalition using food bank ingredients.
The waste prevention grant from Hennepin County helped Create Catering prevent wasted food and increase the number of meals they can make for Kitchen Coalition by expanding freezer capacity. They now prepare 900 frozen meals weekly for Kitchen Coalition, utilizing 844 pounds of largely recaptured food. Before they received the grant-funded freezer, they were unable to make any frozen meals. Create Catering has organics recycling for food that cannot be used for fresh, healthy meals for those in need. Since receiving the grant, Create Catering is averaging 110 pounds less organic waste for composting over a 3-week period.
Create continues to seek ways to distribute more prepared meals since they have the capacity to do so but are looking for charity partners. Contact Phil Dorwart at Philip@createcaters.com to learn more about becoming a partner.
Businesses that need to comply with Hennepin County’s Ordinance 13 food waste diversion requirements must educate new staff upon hire, and all staff annually. Only staff that are directly involved in separating and disposing of food waste must be trained. For example, office staff who don’t work with food in a grocery store setting don’t need to be trained, but grocery store floor employees and facilities staff should be trained. Education of staff should be documented.
Hennepin County offers free training videos and training log templates. Businesses may use whatever method they choose for educating staff and documenting trainings that meet ordinance requirements.
 Hennepin County offers recycling guides and a variety of signs and labels at no cost for businesses. Materials are available for spaces such as offices, cafeterias, commercial kitchens, public spaces and more. See what’s available and order now.
Waste reduction is the act of preventing waste from being generated in the first place. This can be as simple as using a reusable cup and washing it rather than using a disposable one or as complex as working with suppliers to receive shipments in reusable transport containers rather than cardboard boxes. Reusing something rather than throwing it out after a single use reduces waste.
Start small
Even if your business is not ready to establish a team and set new policies, there are small actions that are simple and require minimal approval to complete.
Some examples include:
- Adopting green purchasing policies, such as selecting products that are less toxic, conserve energy or water, or use recycled content materials
- Reducing packaging waste by buying supplies in bulk and using reusable shipping containers
- Hosting green meetings (using reusable dishes, cups and cutlery, avoiding water in plastic bottles, avoiding giveaways of pens, bags, magnets, etc.)
- Choosing non-hazardous or less hazardous cleaning products and using reusable towels and rags
- Setting printers to default to double-sided printing
- Reusing envelopes and boxes as often as you can
- Setting printers to default to black and white printing and encourage staff to only print in color when needed
- Making reusable, washable dishes available for staff rather than paper and plastic disposables
Create an initiative
There are eight steps to creating an initiative to prevent waste at work.
- Get management support and develop a mission statement.
- Organize a team (this may not be your green team). It is important to get key stakeholders involved in this work, not only those who are personally interested in the topic.
- Choose a facilitator to keep work organized and on track.
- Educate the entire business, from stating the mission to updating staff on final goals and progress.
- Collect information, brainstorm solutions, and get feedback – can you reduce toxicity, prevent single-use items, switch to or promote reusable options, change purchasing policies, etc. Start by evaluating your current system: quantify your inbound waste to inform supply chain decision making and prevent waste (XLSX)
- Evaluate ideas based on cost, feasibility, and impact.
- Implement the most promising ideas and track metrics (tonnage of waste streams, cost savings, etc.)
- Continue the program and fine-tune to ensure continued success.
 |
 Are you a business or nonprofit organization looking to reduce waste? Hennepin County has a grant program to support just that! This year, $300,000 is available to fund projects that focus on waste prevention, including:
- Replacing disposables with reusables
- Preventing food waste
- Supporting innovative waste prevention research and development
Review the grant guidelines (PDF) and flyer (PDF) more information on the program and requirements.
Start the application process today!
Applications will be accepted until Monday, November 13, 2023, or until funding is exhausted, whichever occurs first. Visit the business recycling web page to learn more.
|
