Food Waste

Nearly 60 percent of food produced in Canada – amounting to 35.5 million metric tonnes – is lost and wasted annually. Of that, 32 percent – equalling 11.2 million metric tonnes of lost food – is avoidable and is edible food that could be redirected to support people in our communities.

The total financial value of this potentially rescuable lost and wasted food is a staggering $49.46 billion.

Our greatest impact on the planet comes from how we use and produce food, water and energy. By making a few small changes at home, we can make a big difference.

Through La Tablée des Chefs, the non-profit he founded in 2003, Jean-François Archambault ensures surplus food from the hotel and restaurant industry ends up on the plates of the needy. The non-profit group is in the process of revolutionizing the redistribution of food waste from the hotel and restaurant industry. It is turning the commercial kitchen into a place for social change and the chefs, cooks and candy makers who work there into the agents.

Just less than half the food produced in the U.S. and Canada is thrown away. It starts on farms where, because of quotas or over-production, dairy and produce is tossed away. Grocery wholesalers destroy perfectly good fruits and vegetables that don’t pass the eye test because of bruising. Restaurants that can’t grasp the concept of just-in-time delivery cut into their thin margins by throwing out the over-ordered supplies. And, thanks to a lack of meal planning, the average Canadian household is estimated to garbage-can as much as 40 per cent of the shopping cart.

Walmart Canada is helping reduce food waste while cutting emissions from delivery services by working with a sustainable delivery platform that uses shared warehousing and consolidation of orders to reduce truck trips.

A community fridge is a straightforward concept. Restaurants and households donate untouched food that would typically go to waste, and anybody in need of a meal can take what they want.

What if every time you opened your wallet, a third of your cash fell out – and you did nothing about it? Consider the fact that one-third of the food grown annually for human consumption is never eaten – for one reason or another, it ends up in the garbage. In the U.S., that’s $218 billion – or 1.3 billion tons – of food annually. Yet at the same time, 800 million people around the globe are starving. It’s a problem – but one with no shortage of solutions.

The Guest-imator is a dinner party calculator that estimates how much food you need to keep your guests feeling full and happy. The tool will help you plan portions to reduce the chances of food being wasted after the party.

The Guest-imator is a project of Save The Food, a US public service campaign to combat food waste.

Food waste is a huge problem. A recent study conducted by Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International has revealed some jaw dropping facts on food waste in Canada.