Closing Canada’s Food Waste Gap: How Food Stash Foundation Leads the Charge

Imagine throwing half of all your meals into the trash every year. That’s the reality in Canada where nearly half of all food produced is wasted–even as 1 in 4 Canadians struggle to afford groceries.

Food waste is a well-hidden but cumulative problem. “Out of sight, out of mind” is the fate destined for the groceries that have gone bad or the leftovers we just don’t feel like having again. And with gastronomic abundance seemingly everywhere–just look at the overflowing supermarket shelves, bloated restaurant portions, and picture-perfect food adverts–it’s easy to be fooled into believing we can afford to waste food. But if the rising rate of food insecurity and climate disasters occurring around the country is any indication, this simply isn’t true.

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Food Waste is the Third Leading Cause of Climate Change

Unfortunately, our food scraps don't just vanish from existence the moment they land in a trash bin. Or even when they enter a landfill. Instead, they naturally become fuel for climate change. 

Globally, food waste accounts for 8-10% of all greenhouse gas emissions

When food decomposes, it releases large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane: major heat-trapping gases that linger in Earth’s atmosphere. Of the two, methane is more potent, trapping 120 times more heat, but breaks down faster (in about a decade). Carbon dioxide on the other hand can idle in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. 

Then, picture this: 21 million tonnes of food rotting in landfills, slowly releasing 77.7 million metric tonnes of CO₂  over the course of 2023. That’s right–food waste in Canada generated the equivalent of emissions from over 17 million cars last year. 

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As bad as it sounds, total food waste in Canada has actually decreased in the last five years. Data gathered by Second Harvest reveals that the country wasted 35.5 million tonnes, or 60% of all food production, in 2019. However further progress is still needed. The IPCC states that “all pathways [to prevent global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees] involve limiting cumulative emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide…” Moving forward, it’ll be important to remember that these pathways don’t just apply to the energy sector–fossil fuels get all the airtime–they apply to how we handle and consume food as well. Doubling down on curbing food waste throughout the entire supply chain will be critical to mitigating climate change.

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Wasting food is wasting resources

Privileged are those who waste food thinking it will always be available. Under current rates of consumption, the sad reality is that your favourite cheese or coffee won’t be around forever.

When we waste food, we’re also wasting vast amounts of land, water, and energy. Industrial agriculture, especially livestock production, consumes the majority of the Earth’s arable land and freshwater–such to the degree that these resources are rapidly dwindling. 

The glamour and convenience of modern-day food access does a superb job in masking this reality. Fast food chains and delivery apps make conjuring groceries or our favourite dishes the work of a magician: at the tap of a button, food seems to miraculously appear out of thin air. But anyone who has ever tried to grow their own vegetables or cook something completely from scratch knows: there is a cost to every meal. Whether in the form of extracting resources from the earth, labour spent in harvest or production, or simply monetary value, food doesn’t come free.

Certainly, no one understands the value of food, and not wasting it, like the quarter of Canadians living in food-insecure households today.

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Canadians are Wasting More Food Than Ever Despite Record-High Food Insecurity

Out of the 21 billion tonnes of food wasted in Canada last year, around 9 billion tonnes was “avoidable food waste”, or surplus food that could have otherwise been eaten. Discarded leftovers, mouldy groceries, unsold goods, and produce that “failed” to meet industry grading standards fall into this category. And unlike total food waste, which has declined, avoidable food waste has increased in the last five years. 

This upward trend sadly occurs at a time when more and more people across the country struggle to afford food. 8.7 million people were food insecure in 2023, the highest recorded number in almost 20 years. Reliance on food banks has skyrocketed, with Food Banks Canada citing a milestone of two million visits a month this year–a 90% increase since 2019. And if that’s not alarming enough? Children make up one third of all food bank visitors.

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Food Rescue Charities are Closing the Loop

So, what to do? Food that could have fed every single food-insecure person in Canada twice over rots in landfills, fueling nation-wide climate disasters. Industry and government-led progress is happening but evidently not fast enough. 

Until the powers that be treat the problem with the urgency it demands, we thankfully have grassroots organisations like the Food Stash Foundation that are actively transforming the problem into a source of hope.

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Meet the Food Stash Foundation

Founded in 2016 in Vancouver (a city with one of Canada’s highest rates of urban poverty), Food Stash has been diverting over 100,000 pounds of perfectly edible, surplus food from landfills to low-income households every month. 

Their process is straightforward. After picking up food pallets from their network of donors–which consist of 36 different supermarkets, wholesalers, and local farmers–team members sort and organise the bounty according to Food Stash’s four programs: 

1. Rescued Food Box Delivery - a weekly food box packed with 25 lbs of healthy perishable food, intended for low-income individuals possessing a disability and/or chronic health condition.
2. Weekly Rescued Food Market - an affordable and sustainable market that charges no more than $2 per trip.
3. Community Fridge - a free fridge, freezer, and pantry that’s open 24/7 and boasts a “take what you need and leave what you can” policy.
4. Community Partner Delivery - regular food deliveries to 38 organizations across Vancouver who collectively serve over 12,000 people each week.

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Transforming Food Waste Into Hope with Dignified Food Access

The beautiful thing about Food Stash’s programs, beyond functioning as a salve for Vancouver’s food waste problem, is that they foster a sense of community, dignity, and well-being amongst the city’s most vulnerable. 

Those of us who have never needed the services of a food bank take for granted our agency over what we eat. Though we may consider grocery shopping a chore, we’re free to browse the supermarket aisles at leisure, selecting the ripest and brightest produce. We can pick snacks to our liking, try new products. There’s a certain dignity in being able to choose how we nourish our bodies.

But that choice is not available to everyone. “While many food programs provide an essential service, they are organised in a way that don’t afford their recipients any autonomy. People just line up and are given a food hamper,” shares Anna Gray, Food Stash’s Communication Specialist. 

That hierarchical structure, compounded with barriers to access, can damage a person’s sense of identity and belonging. Food Stash understood this, and opted to do things differently. Instead of prescribing every individual with the same grocery hamper, they created programs that enabled people to shop based on their needs and preferences. And according to Gray, this normalcy makes a huge difference:

‍Our program members have shared how important it is that they feel autonomy and dignity at our Rescued Food Market. They come back to us again and again because they love being able to feel like they’re just at a regular grocery store,” she says. “And we love that. We really value people being able to have choice [over their food].

Thanks to Food Stash’s dedication and the ingenuity of their programs, over 1.2 million pounds of food have so far been diverted from landfills this year. That translates to about 1 million meals given back to the community!

To learn more about Food Stash and Vancouver’s food waste crisis, check out the interview with Gray below.

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Interview: Anna Gray, Food Stash Foundation

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Can you share some behind-the-scenes insight into how much food is wasted in Vancouver each year?

The food rescue community is pretty diversified in Vancouver, but at least for us at Food Stash, we’re finding that the amount of surplus food in grocery stores and supermarkets goes up every year. We rescued 774,930 pounds of surplus food in 2020. Then it was 874,796 pounds in 2021, and just over 1 million pounds in 2022. Last year, we rescued 1.5 million pounds of food–the highest we’ve ever had. So yeah, it’s getting worse every year.

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In your experience, why are stores discarding so much food?

I think a big part of it is just a lack of education and poor retail management. In grocery stores, over-ordering can result in a lot of food waste. Like with the holidays coming up, we already saw a huge influx of rescued food last night because these grocery stores are anticipating people shopping for Thanksgiving. The stores put in bigger orders, and then the food just doesn't sell, or they've overestimated how much they actually need. And then in turn, we rescue way more food than we normally would.

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What measures would you like to see companies and governments implement to prevent so much food from going to waste?

Creating more accurate “best-before” labels would be helpful, at least on the consumer end. These labels were created so that the manufacturer doesn't get in trouble if the food is ‘off’, but oftentimes the food is perfectly fine past the date. That's something we've talked a lot about at Food Stash. If the government could better regulate these labels, it could prevent a lot of avoidable food waste. 

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Better food packaging and storage would help as well. When I get home from grocery shopping, I do a bunch of things to make sure that my food lasts longer in my fridge. But maybe manufacturers and distributors can start that process before the food even gets to the grocery store. 

Farmers have also shared with me the importance of getting young people into agriculture. There’s currently a lack of young people entering the workforce which has led to stunted innovation in the food system. You have these older farmers and manufacturers who have done things one way forever, so there's a lack of fresh perspective. If there’s more incentive for young people to work in agriculture, that could lead to new innovations to close the loop.

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How would you broach the conversation about the importance of not wasting food with someone who’s unaware of the consequences of their actions?

I try to lead with humour or relatability. Like, just emphasising that no one is perfect at it. I am not perfect. Sometimes I forget about something in the fridge, and sometimes I don't eat leftovers. But I make sure I have a meal plan before I leave the house so I can avoid over-buying. Whenever I come home from grocery shopping, I make sure I store my herbs in water. If I do have food waste, I put it in the compost. I think that people respond better if you’re honest and show them how easily small things like that can change your habits for the better.

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What would you say needs to change in our wider cultural attitude around food to prevent so much of it from going to waste?

I think we need to provide more food education in general. Instead of being so disconnected from our food sources, we should be teaching kids about where their food comes from as early in life as possible so they grow up appreciating the work that goes into producing what’s on their plates. And making that education accessible whether you live in urban or rural areas.

And I also feel like everyone should have to be a part of a community garden or try to grow their own food. I’ve started gardening recently, and the amount of work it's taken to grow just two tomatoes this year is absolutely insane. It makes me realise how much work farmers go through just to produce that pack of cherry tomatoes I buy at the supermarket. I wouldn't have had that perspective if I hadn't tried to do it myself.

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What stories of hope or inspiration have you experienced while working at Food Stash?

Oftentimes the hope and inspiration is in the small things, but it always comes from people in our community. Like in the past, some members have put together recipe cards for each other. It was nice to see people sharing knowledge and connecting in such a simple yet wholesome way.

Another example is the creative ideas people come up with. We just did a seniors community kitchen, and that only happened because one of our members thought of it. She was also the one who spearheaded that initiative, so it was cool to see her step into a leadership role, too. 

I think hope just comes from being part of a bigger community and knowing we’re all working together to help alleviate the problem.

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Conclusion

Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum of food access, climate change has shown that food waste is everybody’s problem. We must change our relationship with consuming food if we are to mitigate further ecological damage. 

The situation may seem dire, but not all hope is lost. Food Stash’s positive impact on the Vancouver scene serves as an example that, taken together, individual and collaborative actions make a truly tangible difference. If you’re moved by their fight against food waste, consider volunteering with local food rescues or start a compost initiative in your community. Alternatively, check out this simple toolkit on how to minimise food waste in your household!

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Sources:

The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste (UPDATE), Second Harvest

New data on household food insecurity in 2023, PROOF

How to Shrink Elephants and Fight Climate Change, Carla Pellegrini, TEDx

2024 Poverty Report Card, Food Banks Canada

Global Warming of 1.5 ºC, IPCC

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