Number
241483
Version
SUBSTITUTE 1
Reference
221233, 231821
Sponsor
THE CHAIR
Title
Substitute resolution relative to the awarding of food waste recovery and composting mini-grants to community organizations as part of the Environmental Collaboration Office’s FEED MKE Pilot Project.
Analysis
This resolution authorizes the Environmental Collaboration Office (ECO) to redistribute $190,000 of the $400,000 federal funds received through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Compost and Food Waste Recovery program in support of the Environmental Collaboration Office’s FEED MKE Pilot Project (Resolution 241483) to provide mini-grant funds to community organizations. The $190,000 in mini-grant funding includes $127,500 to be given to community organizations engaged in food recovery efforts and $62,500 to be used to support composting efforts from independent compost initiatives and as collaborations with those funded through the local share of $25,000 from DPW Operations for community drop-off sites. As with the larger FEED MKE Pilot Project, these mini-grants will support coordination and expansion of several initiatives among public, private, and governmental entities to address the interconnected issues of food insecurity, waste reduction, landfill diversion, and climate change. The Milwaukee Climate and Equity Plan features “10 Big Ideas” to strategically reduce the city’s carbon footprint, one of which is Waste Reduction and Sustainable Consumption. This idea focuses on feeding hungry people by redistributing edible, gleaned leftovers that would otherwise be thrown away. The key outcomes of this strategy are that residents are fed by gleaning edible food, inedible food waste is composted and less methane-causing food waste ends up in landfills. The mini-grant funding supports local organizations, including food pantries, to boost food recovery efforts and compost collection infrastructure.
Body
Whereas, the City of Milwaukee adopted a Climate and Equity Plan in June 2023 with goals of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while creating good-paying green jobs that pay at least $40,000 per year with a focus on recruiting workers of color into these green jobs; and
Whereas, “Waste Reduction and Sustainable Consumption” is one of the Ten Big Ideas in the Climate and Equity Plan; and
Whereas, the major focus of the Waste Reduction and Sustainable Consumption chapter is the creation of the Food Excess Equitable Distribution (FEED) MKE pilot project with the mission to reduce food waste sent to landfills; and
Whereas, FEED MKE prioritizes source reduction and feeding hungry people, the preferred strategy listed in EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy; and
Whereas, the stated goal of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Compost and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) program is to assist local and municipal governments with projects that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans. Implementation activities will increase access to compost for agricultural producers, improve soil quality and encourages innovative, scalable waste management plans that reduce and divert food waste from landfills; and
Whereas, The City of Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office has been awarded a $500,000 two-year Cooperative Agreement through the CAFR program, of which $400,000 is federally funded and $100,000 is locally funded; and
Whereas, the Environmental Collaboration Office publicly announced the mini-grant opportunity and a committee reviewed and scored the proposals;
Whereas, the Environmental Collaboration Office (ECO) will redistribute $190,000 of the $400,000 federal funds received through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Compost and Food Waste Recovery program in support of the Environmental Collaboration Office’s FEED MKE Pilot Project (Resolution 241483) to provide mini-grant funds to community organizations; and
Whereas the $190,000 in mini-grants includes $127,500 for community organizations engaged in food recovery efforts and $62,500 used to support composting efforts from independent compost initiatives and collaborations with those funded through the local share of $25,000 from DPW Operations for community drop-off sites; and
Whereas, the estimated period performance for mini-grant projects in support of the cooperative agreement is from January 1, 2025 - May 30, 2026; now therefore be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that the Environmental Collaboration Office shall distribute mini-grant funds to community organizations to the attached local organizations in the amounts listed without further approval.
Requestor
Department of Administration - Environmental Collaboration Office
Drafter
Erick Shambarger
01/27/2025