Food waste is a pervasive problem in Canada. In fact, Canada is one of the worst countries in the world for food waste, and it comes at a significant environmental and economic cost.
Logically, most of us know that food waste is a bad thing, but it’s one of those issues that’s easy to forget when the aftermath isn’t directly in front of us. It’s important to remind ourselves often of food waste; keeping our food out of landfills is important for the health of our planet.
Food loss vs. Food waste
When we talk about food waste, what we’re really referring to is food loss and waste, which are two similar but separate aspects of wastage.
Our food system is divided into five parts:
Production - when food is farmed/fished and processed, and packaged
Distribution - when food is transported and sent for wholesale
Access - when we grow, hunt/fish, harvest, and buy food
Consumption - when we prepare, preserve, celebrate, and eat food
Disposal - when we compost, recycle, or throw away food.
Food loss and food waste, while similar concepts, happen at different parts of the food system.
Food waste “refers to the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by retailers, food service providers and consumers.” It happens in the later part of our system, when food goes bad in our refrigerators and we throw it out, or when grocery stores throw away food.
By contrast, food loss occurs earlier in the system, when food is lost during production or distribution. An example of this would be when food is spoiled during distribution or is contaminated as it’s processed.
Together, food loss and waste add up to an incredible amount of food wastage that could be avoided.
The food waste numbers, and what they mean
One third of all food produced globally is wasted.
In Newfoundland & Labrador, each person creates about 4.5lbs of waste per day, which adds up to approximately 400,000 tonnes (40,000,000kg) of waste for this province every year. And that’s just in our province of about 521,000 people.
Canada as a whole produces 11.17 million tonnes of avoidable waste per year, which adds up to a cost of $49 billion. These numbers don’t include the costs and fees associated with production or any of the waste that’s considered “unavoidable,” such as inedible by-products and planned waste associated with production.
To top it off, about 30% of all of the waste produced is organic waste, meaning waste from things that were previously living like plants and animals. This is particularly important when we consider that much of that is avoidable waste from food. The impact of organic food loss and waste is significant.
The environmental impact of food waste is perhaps the biggest issue. Organic waste ends up in landfills, like most other waste, but the problem is that organic waste decomposes and breaks down much more quickly than inorganic waste. It then gets trapped under the inorganic waste, and as it breaks down it produces and traps methane gas - a greenhouse gas that has 21 times the climate change potential as carbon dioxide.
193 million tonnes of greenhouse gas is produced by food waste in North America every year, which is the equivalent of driving 41 million cars continuously for the same amount of time.
In addition to the severe environmental impacts, food loss and waste obviously impacts the economy, as labour and resources are wasted throughout the food system on food that isn’t consumed, resulting in lost potential revenue in the Canadian food industry.
The effects of food loss and waste are devastating, and as Canada is one of the worst countries in the world for wasting food, there’s certainly room to improve.
So, what can we do?
Possible solutions
The food waste data can be disheartening, but there are a lot of potential solutions, both in terms of food waste (retail and consumers) and food loss (production and distribution).
Our actions to combat food loss and waste might look different depending on what phase of the food system we’re in.
For instance, in the Access stage (hunting, fishing, harvesting, and buying food), we can choose to buy food that has a minimal amount of packaging; we can use reusable containers and bags to transport our food; we can plan ahead and shop with a meal plan and grocery list so we buy only what we need; and we can reach out to local hunters and anglers to obtain excess meat or fish that they may not have use for. Our choices at this stage can really affect the amount of food and inorganic material (like plastic) that is wasted when we access food.
In the Consumption phase, we have a lot of power over food that goes to waste. We can store our food properly and preserve it to last longer. Through meal planning, we can get creative and aim to use as much of our leftovers and scraps as possible.
And of course, in the Disposal stage, there are lots of measures we can take to circumvent food waste. We can clean and repurpose or recycle our food packaging (when buying plastic is unavoidable), and we can take care to compost food scraps, making rich soil for gardening while preventing a lot of food from ending up in a landfill - it’s a win-win.
There are other ways to achieve win-win situations as well (or maybe even a win-win-win). In our province, some interesting initiatives have arrived, and their contributions can help with food waste prevention efforts.
FlashFood is an app that helps customers save money on their groceries while preventing food from going to waste in grocery stores. Stores often over-order on many products, and when a product nears or reaches its expiration date, grocery stores throw it out. We know that “best before” doesn’t necessarily mean “bad after” - so what happens to all of the extra food?
Apps like FlashFood make it easy to purchase food that’s near its best before date at half the regular price, meaning consumers get food at 50% off, and the store can reduce costs and their carbon footprint. It’s a win-win-win. In Newfoundland, FlashFood is currently available to use in 11 Dominion and other Loblaws stores. You can learn more about saving money and preventing food waste at their website.
FoodRescue.ca
Food that can’t be sold at a discount (like with Flashfood) goes to landfills, negatively impacting the environment and economy and of course, taking perfectly good food away from folks who could eat it.
The good news is that there are organizations combating this issue, and one of them has made its way to Newfoundland & Labrador.
FoodRescue.ca, the creation of Second Harvest, makes it easy for businesses to donate food surpluses to community organizations, ensuring that food isn’t wasted and that nutritious food makes its way to people who want it. It’s another win-win situation: businesses significantly lower their carbon footprint and nutritious food goes to community groups.
How it works is pretty simple: businesses and non-profits can sign up for a free account at foodrescue.ca. The app allows local food donors and recipients to connect directly, arranging for pick-up of donations of food that the non-profit might need.
FoodRescue.ca has arrived in Newfoundland & Labrador, and they’re looking for businesses and community organizations to partner with who could benefit from this platform. You can read more at foodrescue.ca and also contact their newly hired NL Head of Operations, Leah White, to chat about how foodrescue.ca might work for you (leahw@secondharvest.ca; 709-771-7459). Food First NL has teamed up with FoodRescue.ca to help them make connections with community groups in our province; we’ve reviewed their platform and we think it has a lot to offer to make a positive change locally. We’ll be promoting FoodRescue.ca to our contacts and we’re available to chat about it too if you’d like.
Food loss and waste is a big problem across Canada, and Newfoundland & Labrador is no exception. Luckily, there are steps we can take as individuals and as part of our community. We can make sure that we prevent ourselves from creating excess waste by meal planning, repurposing, and composting, and by using apps like Flashfood. At a community level, we can take advantage of FoodRescue.ca now that it has arrived, to enable businesses and non-profits to partner and donate surpluses of food, helping everyone involved.
There’s lots we can do to prevent food loss and waste when we work together.
