Food waste reduction projects

Saint Paul Public Schools will receive $924,218 in funds to help address the pressing issues of food waste and local food insecurity in all 65 of its schools by focusing on two strategies: 1) making food recovery a part of the culture by creating an internal system of reliable, safe, and measured food recovery, and 2) preventing food waste by developing systems and procedures to track waste against goals that inform staff training needs. Successful implementation of this plan will save a projected 142,000 pounds of food from the compost pile.
Keystone Community Services will receive $309,961 in funds to develop and sustain Keystone’s capacity to rescue and distribute 1.2 million pounds of food each year in Ramsey County. Key elements of the work include securing equipment and staffing, completing routes to collect food rescue and bring it to the Keystone Community Food Center, distributing rescued food, and documenting pounds of food rescued.
Neighborhood House Association will receive $164,139 in funds to add a walk-in cooler in the Wellstone Center Food Market in Saint Paul. The cooler will increase storage capacity from 200 cubic feet of portable refrigeration at this location to approximately 1,350 cubic feet, enabling bulk produce to be stored in proper conditions, resulting in extended shelf life. Support for food-rescue activities would expand with a new partnership with Twin Cities Food Justice. With the addition of the new walk-in cooler, Neighborhood House can reduce food waste by roughly 15% and avoid discarding over 20,000 pounds of fresh produce per year.