New Infographic: Reducing Food Waste in Ontario and Canada

Check out our new infographic, which showcases Ontario’s food waste problem, along with helpful suggestions for creating change. Consumers at the household level are responsible for wasting almost 50% of total food production. Image: Sustain Ontario.

In context, recent policy changes abroad have spurred public interest in the food waste issue. France has banned the disposal of unsold food, so that supermarkets are forced to donate their products to charities and food banks. Italy is expected to pass a new law that will simplify and incentivize the process of giving away food for retailers. In the U.S., Starbucks has pledged to donate 100% of unsold food to those affected by food insecurity, within the next five years.Take a look below for some exemplary food waste reduction initiatives in Canada and Ontario.

Also read, Syrian refugees cooking up a storm in Toronto restaurants.

• Researchers from the University of Guelph food waste research project have teamed up with the City of Guelph and York Region to study household food waste. 
• Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy has recently conducted a food waste audit at a local senior’s home, to learn how food system in local institutions could be made more efficient.
• York Region’s Public Health Unit and Waste Management division teamed up to create the Good Food program, with the aim of reducing food waste going to the green bin, encouraging meal planning and healthy eating. 
• The City of Vancouver’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

Here at Sustain Ontario, we have been working hard on a Food Waste toolkit to come out later this fall. Stay connected via our Good Food Bites to know when the toolkit and other exciting news from the field is released.

Source Shannon Coulter-Low, Sustain Ontario