Americans generate an extra 5 million tons of household waste, including three times as much food waste, during the holidays (World Watch Institute).  Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling encourages you to be realistic this holiday season about the amount of food you prepare to reduce wasted food:

• Get an accurate head count of guests that you will be cooking for and prepare amount of servings needed accordingly
• Make a list of the amount of food you need before going to the grocery store 
• Begin saving your old containers and tupperware and/or ask your guests to bring their own to take leftovers home from the holiday meal
• Delegate a specific dish for each guest to bring so you don’t end up with three uneaten green bean casserole and not enough dessert
• If you do have food scraps to dispose of, you can compost them through Minneapolis’ organics recycling program.  If you don’t already have an organics recycling cart visit www.minneapolismn.gov/organics or call 612-673-2917 to sign up.

For more information about how to reduce wasted food this holiday season visit www.SaveTheFood.com.