City Council Meeting Date: March 20, 2018
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: David Bennett, P.E., Public Works Director/City Engineer
Justin Wagner, Utilities Manager
Title
Consider Resolution Approving Application to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Environmental Assistance Grant for Greater Minnesota Recycling and Composting
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council approves the attached Resolution for application to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Environmental Assistance Grant for Greater Minnesota Recycling and Composting.
Summary Report:
The purpose of this grant application is to increase infrastructure for food waste through a collaborative effort with Northfield Community Action Center's (CAC) food shelf, which is housed within the City of Northfield's Community Resource Center. The CAC is a newly "In Progress" SuperShelf partner. SuperShelf transforms food shelves, creating welcoming environments for communities to access appealing, healthy food. Partnering with food shelves across Minnesota, SuperShelf uses behavioral economic principles to promote healthy food choices, works with food shelves to meet specific SuperShelf stocking standards and values, and transforms the physical space to create an appealing environment.
Northfield's CAC is seeking to add a walk-in cooler/freezer to facilitate an increase in food recovered from local grocery stores and farms to be distributed through the community food shelf. The MPCA requires that the grant be submitted by a government entity, hence the City making the application in working with the CAC.
In 2017 the CAC rescued over 249,000 pounds of food from local retailers, including Aldi, Cub and Target and they plan to increase that amount through the SuperShelf model. Adding to their refrigeration capacity would allow for a greater percentage of the recovered food to be used to feed people. This is a potential diversion of thousands of pounds of food. We look to...
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