Homegrown Minneapolis Works to Reduce Food Waste
Sunday, June 22, 2025 at 9:37AMArticle by Becky Fillinger, photos provided
Each year, Minneapolis community members and businesses throw away nearly 128,000 tons of food. The City of Minneapolis is committed to reducing wasted food. We talked to Nick Koreen, Senior Environmental Health Specialist and Alison Babb, Manager, Homegrown Minneapolis, to find out more about Minneapolis’ goals and their programs and resources on reducing food waste.
Q: What specific goals does Minneapolis have for reducing food waste?
Alison BabbAlison: We only have one really specific goal, and that is from our 2023 Climate Equity Plan - that goal can be found in the Call to Action section: “Recycle and compost 80% of citywide waste by 2030.”
So, the reason this is relevant to food waste is because currently 19% of what's in the trash is food. The number one thing that's in the trash shouldn't be in the trash.
Q: Are there incentives for businesses to donate surplus food rather than throw it away?
Nick KoreenNick: The city doesn't directly provide a financial incentive like a break on a license fee, for example. However, there are great incentives and reasons why we promote or encourage business owners to get involved. There are the environmentalal impacts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Also, freeing up land use waste or water waste. There are obviously societal benefits to feeding the hungry. There are also financial benefits that we stress for the business. Two examples that we really promote are reducing your trash bill, because we know that trash is heavily taxed and composting is not. And then there are tax incentives baked into donating food - it's actually an enhanced tax credit at 1 1/2 times the value of the food.
Q: Does the city offer training or support for businesses on food donations? Protections?
Nick: A couple things here. First, we should note that Minneapolis restaurants create 35,000 tons of food waste each year. We have many resources for restauranteurs who want assistance with food waste prevention and donations. Our online landing page gives detailed instructions on food inventory management, donations, composting and communicating with staff and customers. We put a QR code on all of our inspection reports that will take people to these resources. We make it easy for restaurant owners to find the assistance they need. The resources go deep – there’s a lot of ‘how to,’ ‘when to’ and ‘where to’ advice with direct links in the language of the chef or kitchen manager.
I am available for an on-site consultation. I connect with restaurant professionals - look at their unique restaurant floor plan and kitchen layout. I then talk to them about their options and learn what they want to do or what feels best for their business model. I will say that not everyone jumps at the chance of having additional visits by a health inspector and we completely understand! That’s when our online resources come into play and they are used extensively.
Q: Do your programs ensure that the food benefits low-income or food insecure populations?
Alison: Nick has been referencing restaurants in his responses so far. Certainly, if they're donating the food, then it's very likely that it is going to low-income residents. But I want to take this opportunity to talk about other ways we're supporting wasted food prevention. So currently, the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative has a Community funding program called Homegrown Community projects. A number of Homegrown Community projects are directly involved in food rescue. This food is not from restaurants – it is mostly from grocery stores and farmers markets. This rescued food is going to food shelves or congregate meal dining programs. So yes, it eventually goes to low-income residents.
We also have tips for individual households on preventing food waste. Check resources here.
Q: Are there any upcoming expansions or new initiatives, and how do we stay in touch with the news around these programs?
Alison: We had an event in April – 86 Food Waste and Make an Impact while Positively Impacting your Bottom Line. We are planning another event in the fall focused on helping restaurants prevent wasted food. I would encourage everyone to sign up for the Homegrown Minneapolis E newsletter to stay current on our community's capacity to grow and share food.
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Editor's Note - The Mill City Farmers Market launched their Greens for Good program in 2013. Follow the link to learn the impact it has made.
