The Green to Go ordinance celebrates 10 years of regulating Minneapolis food places to use environmentally friendly to-go packaging, including compostable, recyclable or reusable.

Food businesses must provide collection bins for both recyclable materials and compostable plastics, along with food and beverages needing to be prepared for immediate consumption or taken to go, because of the ordinance.

Nathan Kelly, the senior city environmental health specialist, said the need for this ordinance came from realizing the amount of waste restaurants had with styrofoam and non-recyclable plastics.

“All of those just end up in the trash,” Kelly said. “So I think it was our way of trying to lower the amount of kind of waste entering the stream and kind of divert that away from the waste energy facilities and the landfill.”

The ordinance has been updated several times since its creation, one targeting black plastic food containers. Kelly said there is a sorting issue with that type of plastic, and no company is taking it in.

Kelly added black plastic is hard to turn into something else.

“No company is taking that black plastic to recreate it into something else, mainly because it’s already died. It’s hard to turn. That’s kind of the issue,” Kelly said. “Going forward, we’re really trying to keep up with changes in kind of the waste in waste in general.”

Organizations like MNimize work with the city to help businesses comply with the Green to Go ordinance through financial and technical assistance to make the transition smoother.

Chamber’s Director of Environmental Sustainability Patrick Deal said in a statement that listing these organizations on the website allows businesses affected by this ordinance to connect with them.

“MNimize was created to celebrate and support the voluntary reduction of single-use plastics in the food service industry,” Deal said.

MNimize can provide businesses with up to $1,000 worth of containers, conduct staff training and help them find reusable, compostable packaging.

Kelly said Minneapolis is the “guinea pig” for this ordinance in Minnesota, with St. Paul, Roseville, Edina and St. Louis Park following in the city’s footsteps with similar ordinances.

Certain items, including utensils, straws and prepackaged food, do not need to meet the Green to Go rules, according to the website. The same goes for certain businesses like caterers, nursing homes and hospitals.

Reaching 10 years of Green to Go is a big milestone, Kelly said.

“We’ve gained so much progress and the amount of plastic entering the waste energy facility, I feel like it is making a difference. That’s really lowering it, by this ordinance,” Kelly said.
“It feels that, even if it’s a little bit, that this ordinance is helping with kind of the waste problem that our society faces.”