Almost 60% of food produced in Canada is wasted, contributing 56.5 M M tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in Canada per year. Retail supermarkets are a huge contributor of that waste, throwing out tonnes of perfectly good, edible food surplus every day. We are asking the big 3 Canadian supermarkets (Metro, Loblaws and affiliates and Sobey and affiliates) to commit […]
What is this ‘food surplus’ that supermarkets throw out? If it is good, edible food, why would they throw it out? Surely they only throw out spoilt food?
The supermarkets’ business model guarantees they can supply everything you need at premium freshness all the time. To meet this guarantee, supermarkets must be constantly OVER-supplied to ensure freshness and demand, which creates a massive waste margin of perfectly good, edible food. This is what we call ‘food surplus’. Every time a new delivery of fresh produce comes in, all […]
Are there laws which prevent businesses from donating food? If someone gets sick from eating donated food, are the businesses liable?
Contrary to popular opinion, there are no liability or legal barriers which prevents supermarkets from donating food. The Food Donations Act absolves liability from food donors. “While the legislation varies province to province, generally speaking, across Canada it is completely acceptable to donate and distribute food to another person without being held responsible for injuries, illness or death unless the […]
If this is so easy, why isn’t it already being done?
This is already being done – in Australia (Woolworths), UK (Tesco’s), and USA (Wholefoods and Traders Joes) just to name a few examples. These countries have similar trade practices and economies to Canada, so there’s no reason why it can’t also happen here. Furthermore, these companies took it upon themselves to go zero waste with no public pressure or mandates […]
Does anyone really even want this food?
Yes! 1 in 8 households in Canada are currently food insecure. There are countless charities and NGOs who will gladly receive food donations to help feed these people, some may even pick up directly from the supermarkets, making donating food easy.
Isn’t this the government’s problem to fix? Shouldn’t they legislate food waste illegal like they did in France?
Considering all the problems government is currently dealing with (pandemic, climate change, healthcare, economy), we don’t have a lot of faith they’ll act quickly. Supermarket CEOs, on the other hand, are fully capable of making changes within their companies without oversight from the government. By passing the Food Donations Act, the government has already removed a major hurdle, empowering supermarkets […]
If supermarkets give food away, doesn’t that destroy their business?
Not at all. There will always be a market for the convenience that a supermarket provides, the ability to choose what you want, when you want it. The nature of food surplus is extremely inconvenient – you can’t guarantee how much there will be, or choose what items you’ll get, or exactly when a product will be culled and pulled […]