Food Rescue & Sustainability

Retail Food Rescue

Last year alone, food rescue accounted for 601,728 pounds of the food distributed through Bountiful Basket, representing 39.9% of all food shared and equating to more than 501,440 meals provided to our community. 

Every weekday, our dedicated volunteers travel to 9 local retail partners to “rescue” food that these stores will no longer sell. The food is safe and within its consumption window but is removed from shelves to make room for new merchandise.

Instead of going to waste, this food is rescued and brought directly to our food shelf that same day, where it can quickly reach the families and individuals who need it most.

Cologne’s Waste Reduction Efforts

Our Cologne location has a few creative ways to make sure as much food as possible stays in use. Similar to our Chaska location, even when food can no longer be distributed through the food shelf it is collected for feed; for a local pig farmer in Cologne!

Our Cologne location also participates in organics pickup through a partnership with Carver County Environmental Services. ensuring that food scraps and other organic materials that cannot be reused are diverted from the waste stream.