Sustainable Partnerships

Community partnerships are key to reaching our sustainability goals at the co-op. We value the many local organizations addressing environmental and food insecurity issues, such as Adopt A Drain, Groveland Food Shelf, Peace House, Herbivorous Acres, and more. With their help, we’re able to divert waste from our waterways and edible food from the compost.

adopt a drain

Our co-op locations both work with Adopt-A-Drain, a national program developed and managed locally by Hamline University to protect our invaluable watershed environment. The Adopt-A-Drain website has cataloged and mapped over 300,000 storm drains in Minnesota alone that residents and businesses can adopt and maintain by keeping leaves, trash and debris clear of the drain, and therefore out of our surrounding rivers, streams and lakes. Both our Lyndale and Linden Hills stores have adopted the drains along the perimeter of our store locations, just one way we can enact our Co-op Principle to “Care for Community.” In a recent drain cleaning at Lyndale, we picked up eight pounds of trash from the surrounding curbsides alone. Imagine the impact we will make over a year!

staff free bin

One of the perks employees have working at the co-op is the “Free Bin” at both of our locations. Simply put, these are items that are culled from our shelves that aren’t at their peak freshness, but still good enough to eat. All staff have access to these items every day, to take home and provide local and organic nourishment to themselves and their families.

food waste diversion

Our stores partner with non-profit organizations like Groveland Food Shelf, Peace House and Herbivorous Acres to collect food from our deli, produce and grocery departments that is near expiration dates or with imperfections. At our Linden Hills location alone, over 20,000 pounds of perishable food was donated to Groveland Food Shelf in 2023! This is food that would’ve otherwise been composted, and instead was able to feed our neighbors experiencing food insecurity.

Groveland Emergency Food Shelf is a Minneapolis-based non-profit with three programs providing emergency groceries to those in need. On a monthly basis, they serve 5,000 clients and distribute over 150,000 pounds of food.

Peace House Community is a non-profit caring for our Minneapolis neighbors wounded by economic and social dislocation by giving them a place to belong. In addition to serving over 17,000 meals a year by over 29,000 clients, they also offer bike repair, haircuts and more.

Herbivorous Acres is a non-profit farm sanctuary for animals. Food unfit for human consumption is donated to the happy animals living on the Herbivorous Acres farm plot in Scandia, MN.