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      Project REDUCE

      Restaurants Eliminating & Diverting Uneaten food through Compos​ting & Education

      Graphic of Project REDUCE logo that reads, "Eliminating, Diverting, Composting, Education."

      Project REDUCE Food Waste Prevention Microgrant​

       Applications are now closed. ​​

      The Office of Environmental Programs is excited to announce the next phase of its Project REDUCE initiative. For Phase 2, the City is issuing a new microgrant program to support local restaurants in piloting simple, convenient, and innovative food waste prevention solutions.  ​

      NOTE:  Restaurants must be located within the City’s Downtown Core boundaries, which is Fillmore Street south to Pacific Railroad; Seventh Street west to Third Avenue. Restaurants within a quarter mile of those boundaries may be considered.

      Graphic of Project REDUCE logo that reads, "Eliminating, Diverting, Composting, Education."

      Project REDUCE Food Waste Prevention Microgrant​

       Applications are now closed. ​​

      The Office of Environmental Programs is excited to announce the next phase of its Project REDUCE initiative. For Phase 2, the City is issuing a new microgrant program to support local restaurants in piloting simple, convenient, and innovative food waste prevention solutions.  ​

      NOTE:  Restaurants must be located within the City’s Downtown Core boundaries, which is Fillmore Street south to Pacific Railroad; Seventh Street west to Third Avenue. Restaurants within a quarter mile of those boundaries may be considered.

      Benefits:

      • Create cost-savings for your restaurant.
      • Educate customers on eliminating food waste.
      • Receive Phoenix Mayoral and media recognition.
      • Become a leading restaurant known for food waste reduction.

      Funding for projects can include, but are not limited to:

      • Provide self-serve stations with bulk salsa, condiments, and ingredients to reduce single-use packets.
      • Implement waste tracking processes to inform production, menu planning, and inventory management.
      • Purchase software to measure and manage food production and better track inventory.
      • Purchase food preservation tools like vacuum sealers, dehydrators, and freezers.

      ​Project REDUCE Phase 1

      Previously, the City worked with nine restaurants and four key partners to comprehensively eliminate food waste through prevention, rescue, and composting measures through a 10-week program. The goal was to stop food from ending up in landfills by helping restaurants prevent waste, donate surplus food, and compost scraps.​ 

      Over the course of the pilot, the participating restaurants located on Roosevelt Row and Historic Grand Avenue diverted 31,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill!

       Watch the documentary below to learn more about Project REDUCE!

      ​​Participating​ Restaurants from Phase 1

      ​​Preventing Waste

      Adopting prevention practices is the most effective way to reduce food waste. It saves restaurants resources and time, as well as money.

      Project REDUCE Phase 1 restaurants adopted at least two prevention strategies for the duration of the challenge. Some of these strategies include:

      • Adopting new practices for food purchasing, storage, and right-sizing
        cooking quantities to ​minimize waste
      • Utilizing foods that might otherwise go unused (like imperfect fruits and vegetables, unusual plant parts, surplus foods) and taking nose-to-tail approaches with animal products; creating new or modified recipes.​​​​
      • Offering more flexible portions (like smaller portions, half-size options, etc.).
      • Cooking in small batches and/or cook to order.
      • Making side dishes and bread optional.
      • Training on food waste reduction and recognition for practices that reduce food waste.​
      An image of Chef Chris Lenza

      Meet Chef Chris Lenza

      Restaurant​s met with local chef Chris Lenza, National Executive Chef of the Cafe Bon Appetit Wellness Team, to receive hands-on guidance and training on food waste prevention strategies that are specific to each restaurant's unique needs.

      An image of Chef Chris Lenza
      Logo for Waste Not

      Donating Surplus Food

      Participating restaurants utilized Waste Not's free MealConnect app to donate surplus food throughout the eight week pilot. Restaurants used MealConnect to pair food donations with volunteer drivers and a recipient agency. For more information on signing up for MealConnect, please visit mealconnect.org/donate​.

      Logo for Waste Not
      Logo for Recyced City that reads, " R. City Farmland for the Future."

      ​Composting Fo​od Scraps

      Each restaurant was provided with free compost collection services from Reycled City for the full 10-week challenge period. 

      For restaurants that were interested, the City of Phoenix conducted waste audits and provided information about how much waste are they generated and diverted at the beginning and end of the pilot to track progress.​

      Logo for Recyced City that reads, " R. City Farmland for the Future."

      A special thank you to our program partners:

      Contact Us​

      Email: kailey.mullis@phoenix.gov 

      Note when you submit an email it falls under the city's policy which states that the email message is: (1) subject to public disclosure under the Public Records Law, (2) not private or confidential and (3) retained for 90 days.