Zero waste challenge

Many people are interested in taking steps to prevent waste, recycle, and compost more but aren't sure where to start.

Hennepin County's Zero Waste Challenge programs will help you learn more, connect you with resources to help you reach your goals, and provide support and motivation along the way. There are three opportunities to get involved:

• A personalized, eight-month Zero Waste Challenge is open to approximately 50 households per round. This challenge offers one-on-one support and accountability from trained waste experts.
• A fully online, month-long Plastic-Free Challenge has unlimited participation and directs households to focus on actions to reduce single-use plastics.
• A fully online, month-long Stop Food Waste Challenge has unlimited participation and directs households to focus on actions to prevent wasting food.

Personalized eight-month Zero Waste Challenge

The Hennepin County Zero Waste Challenge provides personalized help to households to assess the waste they generate, develop a customized waste-reduction plan, and make low-waste lifestyle changes. 

Throughout the eight-month challenge, participating households develop a personalize waste reduction plan, receive one-on-one coaching and support, attend educational workshops, receive waste reduction tips, get access to supplies and educational materials, and connect with other households.

Get involved

The application is currently closed for the Zero Waste Challenge. 

Sign up below to be notified of future opportunities to participate in the Zero Waste Challenge.

What participants receive

Participating households:

• Receive hands-on, personalized coaching from a county waste reduction and recycling specialist or certified Community Recycling Ambassadors to assess the waste generated in their homes, develop a customized waste-reduction plan, and make low-waste lifestyle changes.
• Attend a series of virtual or in-person educational workshops on waste-reduction topics such as low-waste shopping, preventing food waste, and backyard composting.
• Evaluate their waste at the beginning, middle, and end of the challenge and submit their data to the county.
• Receive bi-weekly newsletters with waste reduction tips and get access to supplies and educational materials.
• Connect with other households striving to live lower waste lifestyles. 

Why participate

Many of us intend to take action on issues we care about but struggle to figure out which changes or new habits fit into our busy lives. If you’ve ever wanted to reduce the amount of waste you create, this program is a great opportunity to learn more and get personalized help.

Additionally, your participation provides the county valuable insights into the opportunities, challenges and priorities to reach our recycling and waste reduction goals. The results and lessons learned are used to develop future programs.

Watch the video to learn more about the Zero Waste Challenge.

Expectation of participants

Participants are expected to:

• Attend an introductory workshop.
• Attend workshops to learn more about ways they can reduce waste. Workshops will cover a variety of topics and will be offered monthly throughout the challenge.
• Communicate over phone or email with their liaison and have one home visit or virtual conversation to check in on their progress.
• Make their best attempt to adopt actions to reduce the amount of waste created in their households.
• Track and report the trash, recycling, and food waste their household generates for two weeks at the beginning, middle, and end of the challenge.
• Commit to participate in the entire eight-month challenge.

Participation in the challenge involves about two hours of scheduled time each month for workshops and other check-ins. Additional time is spent on your own schedule to make progress on waste-reduction actions and track your waste.

Plastic-Free Challenge

Kickstart your plastic-free journey and be part of the solution to reduce waste, protect water and wildlife, address climate change, and look after the health of ourselves and future generations by joining the online Plastic-Free Challenge. The challenge has more than 80 actions to choose from in eight categories.

The Plastic-Free Challenge takes place February 1-28 with registration open in January. Visit the website to sign up and see the resources page for tutorials on how to use the online platform.

Use the Plastic-Free Challenge media kit (DOCX, 10MB) to promote the challenge.

Stop Food Waste Challenge

The online Stop Food Waste Challenge will help you learn more about food waste and improve your skills in cooking, planning, shopping, and storage to prevent wasting food. The challenge has more than 60 actions to choose from in six categories.

The Stop Food Waste Challenge takes place August 1-31 with registration open in July. Visit the website to sign up and see the resources page for tutorials on how to use the online platform.

Promote the challenge using the resources in the Stop Food Waste Challenge media kit (DOCX, 19MB).

How to participate

Personalized eight-month Zero Waste Challenge

There will be no Fall 2025 round. Sign up for the interest list to be notified when the next round opens up.

Online month-long challenges

The Plastic-Free Challenge typically runs in February with registration open in January. The Stop Food Waste Challenge typically runs in August with registration open in July.

Sign up below to be notified when registration is open for future rounds of the Zero Waste Challenge and online challenges.