2024 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit

Carolyn Collopy is a supervisor of the Waste Reduction and Recycling Unit in the Department of Environment and Energy at Hennepin County. Raised in St Paul, MN Carolyn ventured off to Portland, OR and Chicago, IL before returning to settle in Minneapolis. During her time away from this great state we affectionately call Minnesnowta, Carolyn spent her time developing and implementing waste, green building, and energy efficiency programs for the City of Portland and the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and served as the City of Evanston’s first sustainability coordinator, leading the development and implementation of one of the first Climate Action Plans in the state of Illinois. In her role at the county, Carolyn leads the development and implementation of food waste initiatives, oversees waste reduction and recycling programming and assists with the county’s long-term waste management planning. Carolyn has BS and MS degrees in geography from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and Portland State University. In her spare time, you’ll find her in her garden savoring the limited warm days of MN and growing food.