Plate to Garden

2025 Plate to Garden Events

Boston Scientific - Maple Grove ​​4/16
  • Address: 1 Scimed Place, Maple Grove, MN 55311
Dakota Prairie Composting 4/22
  • Address: 1905 Mystic Lake Drive, Shakopee, MN, 55378
Creekside Soils 4/26
  • Time: 10am-2pm
  • Address: 1500 Adams St SE, Hutchinson, MN 55350
  • Website
Metropolitan Airports Commission 4/29
  • Address: 6040 28th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 54450
Minnesota Composting Council 5/3
  • Time: 11:30-4pm
  • Address: 2325 Endicott St, St Paul, MN 55114
Ramsey County 5/3
  • Time: 9am-1pm
  • Address: 1700 Kent Street, Roseville, MN 55113
  • Website
St. Mary's Church - Alexandria 5/3
  • Time: 8am-12pm
  • Address: St. Mary's Lighthouse Parking Lot, 4th Ave E & Hawthorne St. 
U.S. Bank 5/7
  • Address: 60 Livingston Ave., St. Paul, MN 55107
Lincoln School - Alexandria 5/8
  • Time: 9am-1pm
  • Address: 11th Ave W & Lark St, Bethany on the Lake - Parking lot
    St Paul School of Northern Lights 5/9 and 5/10
    • Time: 5/9 2:30-5:30pm, 5/10 9am-3pm
    • Address: 768 Hamline Ave S, Saint Paul, MN 55116
    • Website
    City of Plymouth 5/10
    • Address: 14900 23rd Avenue North, Plymouth, MN 55447
    The Brass Tacks Initiative 5/10
    • Time: 9am-12pm
    • Address: 801 Main Street E, New Prague, MN 56071
    • Website
    • Facebook
    Boston Scientific - Arden Hills 5/14
    • Address: 4100 Hamline Avenue North, Arden Hills, MN, 55112
    Anoka County 5/17
    • Time: 10am-12pm
    • Address: 550 Bunker Lake Blvd NW, Andover, MN 55304
    City of Crystal 5/17
    • Time: 9am-1pm
    • Address: 5530 Douglas Dr N, Crystal, MN 55429
    • Facebook: Friends of Crystal Parks
    • Website
    Tangletown Neighborhood Association 5/17
    • Time: 10am-12pm
    • Address: 106 E Diamond Lake Rd, Minneapolis, MN 55419
    • Website

    About Plate to Garden

    ​In 2015 the MNCC developed the Plate to Garden program to complete the loop of growing food, eating food, and turning food scraps back into soil to grow food again.

    Plate to Garden Compost provides community organizations, schools, and others the opportunity to raise money for their organization or a charity while educating citizens about the benefits of composting and using finished compost.

    By delivering compost in bulk, customers get to see and feel the product prior to purchasing it. Plate to Garden Compost is a win-win for community organizations and the environment!

    How the Program Works

    Minnesota Composting Compost will:​
    • Provide a list of participating compost sites
    • Provide bags to fill with compost (Fee $1.25/Bag)
      • ​Note: Ten cubic yards of compost is sufficient to fill 500 bags!
    • Provide event signage and safety tools
    • Provide educational materials for hosting organizations​​
    The Organization Must:
    • Arrange for finished compost to be delivered. Delivery and payment is arranged between host organizations and the compost facility.
    • Find volunteers to help fill bags of compost on the day of the event
    • Promote the event to the community
    • Set their purchase price and manage sales
    • Pay for the compost, delivery, and bags used following the event​
    • Arrange to return signage, tools and unused bags to Plate to Garden representative.
      • You will be invoiced by the MNCC for bags used at a cost of $1.25/bag.

    Curious about the Benefits of Compost? ​

    • Great for the garden: compost can be added to seed, starting mixes, container plantings, garden beds, or lawns
    • Full of microorganisms: adding compost helps break down organic matter into nutrients, making plants grow stronger
    • Less watering: compost increases the amount of moisture the soil retains, so you have to water less
    • Can also help prevent erosion
    ​

    Plate to Garden Compost Bags

    Picture
    The wait is over! Plastic bags are a thing of the past for our Plate to Garden events as of 2022. The MNCC now sells burlap bags to any organization or business hosting a Plate to Garden event. 

    ​Keep an eye out for Plate to Garden events near you in 2025 so you can support organizations in your community and the composting industry in Minnesota.

    2025 Plate to Garden Events
    A fundraising opportunity that also helps the environment!

    Send an email to [email protected]
    ​to ask questions or register your event here
    Recommended Compost Facilities:

    ​SMSC
    Jenny Appenzeller: [email protected]

    Waste Management, formerly Twin Cities SET
    Joy Harms: [email protected]
    please CC Jake Duame: [email protected]
    ​
    Glacier Ridge 
    Nathan Reinbold: [email protected]

    CreekSide Soils
    Cassandra Meuffels
    [email protected]
    ​
    Greater Minnesota
    Please contact Zaria Romero at [email protected]     for information
    ​on other Greater Minnesota composting locations.

    ​
    Note: A ten cubic yards
    of compost should to fill
    ​500 bags

    Presenting Sponsor

    Supporting Sponsors

    MNCC's International Compost Awareness Week
    Plate to Garden Events

    2022 Plate to Garden Hosts
    ​

    SMSC Organics Recycling Facility
    Mississippi Market & Minnesota WasteWise
    Metropolitan Airport Commission
    Love the Earth Event  | PDSWM compost for your garden: Bagged by Boy Scouts & LutherCrest Volunteers
    Church of St. Paul
    MNCC Minnesota Compost Awareness Day presented by BizRecycling at CHS Field
    MNCC at Urban Growler
    ​
    First Lutheran Church
    ​Boston Scientific - Arden Hills
    ​Bethel Manor/Winona Shores gardening program
    St. Johns Lutheran Church
    ​Boston Scientific 
    Tangletown
    City of New Brighton 

    2021 Plate to Garden Hosts

    Carver County Environmental Center
    Columbia Heights High School Key Club
    Waste Wise
    Private Organization
    ​Scouts BSA Troop 9260 & 7269 
    ​US Bank Virtual Plate to Garden
    MNCC & Urban Growler
    ​Private Organization
    ​FIT Academy Charter School
    ​St. John's Lutheran Church Lakeville
    Private Organization
    ​Tangletown

    2020 Plate to Garden Hosts

    No events were held in 2020 due to COVID-19.

    2019 Plate to Garden Hosts

    Carver Co. Environmental Services
    Minnesota Composting Council
    First Lutheran Church
    Landscape and Horticulture Club
    Lynnhurst Environmental Committee
    In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater
    ​Boston Scientific Arden Hills
    St. Agnes School
    5th & 6th Grade Class
    Glenwood Area Girl Scouts
    Boston Scientific Maple Grove

    Plate to Garden Compost program featured in articles!

    Plate to Garden event
    Here is a fun example of a Plate to Garden event as a digital ad in the Northeaster Newspaper from 2021. Enjoy the read!

    ​The Plate to Garden program was also featured in the May 2016 issue of BioCycle Magazine! 

    Plate to Garden is a fundraiser for any organization interested in selling compost to their friends, family, and the general public. The MNCC provides bags and equipment, and helps promote the event. The fundraising organization is responsible for coordinating the delivery of compost and selecting a delivery location for the compost, mobilizing necessary volunteers, promoting the event, and coordinating the return of borrowed supplies.
    ​

    Past Plate to Garden Fundraising Events

    Waconia School Event

    Boston Scientific

    MN Landscape Arboretum

    McDonalds - Coon Rapids