VANCOUVER, July 18, 2018 /CNW/ - Two of Canada's largest food retailers have joined with local and provincial governments and agencies to launch a national Love Food Hate Waste campaign today, which aims to change Canadians' behaviours around food and dramatically reduce the significant amount of food wasted across the country every day.
Canadians are among the worst of the developed nations when it comes to food waste, with about 47 percent of food waste occurring in the home. More than 60 percent of the food Canadians throw away could have been eaten, costing the average Canadian household more than $1,100 per year. In all, 2.2 million tonnes of edible food is thrown out annually, contributing to Canada's greenhouse gas emissions as well as wasting the resources needed to produce and distribute food to consumers.
"The Love Food Hate Waste campaign is desperately needed to tackle food waste across the country," said Malcolm Brodie, Chair of the National Zero Waste Council. "The campaign is the first coordinated national approach to help Canadians change their relationship with food. It only takes a small change, such as buying only what we need so food doesn't spoil or get forgotten in the back of the fridge and is then thrown out."
The campaign offers practical and easy tips for keeping and storing fresh food, using up existing ingredients and better planning to avoid over-purchasing food. The campaign is based on a successful model in the United Kingdom, where avoidable household food waste was cut by 21 percent in its first five years, saving UK consumers £13 billion.
The campaign, which comes ahead of the federal government's plan to introduce a Food Policy for Canada, is spearheaded by the National Zero Waste Council (NZWC) and already involves nine partners, including the cities of Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, the Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver, Province of BC, RECYC-QUÉBEC and major Canadian food retailers Walmart Canada and Sobeys.
It follows on the heels of the release of the NZWC's Food Loss and Waste Strategy, which focuses on the need to change consumer behaviour and reduce food waste in the production and distribution systems – where the other half of Canada's food waste occurs. The strategy also calls for an overhaul of food labelling laws in order to alleviate confusion over "best before" dates, and establishes a national goal to halve food waste by 2030.
The Food Loss and Waste Strategy was shared with Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay, and Environment Minister and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna to help inform the federal government's development of a Food Policy for Canada.
The National Zero Waste Council brings together governments, businesses and non-government organizations to advance waste prevention in Canada. It was founded by Metro Vancouver in collaboration with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in 2013.
Media Contacts:
National Zero Waste Council: Don Bradley, 604.788.2821, [email protected]
City of Toronto: Ashalea Stone, 416.392.8306, [email protected]
RECYC-QUEBEC: Brigitte Geoffroy, 514.351.7838, [email protected]
Campaign materials are available at LoveFoodHateWaste.ca and B-roll is available for download here.
Partner Quotes:
"During the Government's consultations on the development of A Food Policy for Canada, thousands of Canadians and stakeholders told us that reducing food loss and waste is a priority for them. As we examine how the Canadian food policy can make a difference on food waste, I strongly commend the leadership of the National Zero Waste Council for raising awareness and finding solutions to this complex issue."
- The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Media Contact: Media Relations, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1.866.345.7972, [email protected]
"Walmart Canada is committed to ensuring people have access to good food and we've set out to achieve zero food waste in our own operations by 2025," said Lee Tappenden, President and CEO, Walmart Canada. "By partnering with the National Zero Waste Council on the Love Food Hate Waste campaign we hope to champion and inspire more change and action that will significantly reduce food waste in Canada."
Media Contact: Diane Medeiros, 416.356.1654, [email protected]
"We are delighted to announce Sobeys' ongoing involvement in the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign. Since partnering with Zero Waste Council in 2016, we have seen the power of awareness and education in reducing household food waste. Today, we are very excited to be joining forces to roll out Love Food Hate Waste across the country, encouraging all to enjoy more of the food they purchase and waste less," said Cynthia Thompson, Vice President, Communications and Corporate Affairs, Sobeys.
Media Contact: Jennifer McCrindle, [email protected], 416.729.9605
"Food waste is an issue that affects all parts of the consumption cycle, from farm to table. We must consider food as a valuable resource. From a sustainable development perspective, we have a collective duty to reduce waste before thinking about composting, even if composting is a better option than throwing food away," recalls Isabelle Melançon, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change in Quebec. "The Love Food Hate Waste campaign will help raise consumers' awareness on the importance of eating wisely."
Media Contact: Julien Marcotte, 418.521.3911, [email protected]
"In B.C., organic waste currently represents 40% of material sent to our landfills and generates 7.5% of B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions. We can and need to do better," said George Heyman, BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. "This campaign will help reduce both food waste and emissions, and will align with our broad, far-reaching climate action strategy we'll be releasing this fall."
Media Contact: Danielle Bell, 250.953.3834, [email protected]
"Composting is great but preventing food waste in the first place is the best solution," said Sonia Gagné, President and CEO, RECYC-QUÉBEC. "Together we can make a big difference towards a waste-free society in Canada. RECYC-QUÉBEC is really happy to partner with the Council for this campaign, making it possible to roll it out both in English and in French across Canada."
Media Contact: Brigitte Geoffroy, 514.351.7838, [email protected]
"The City of Toronto's Long Term Waste Management Strategy identifies a great opportunity to reduce food waste by getting residents to think about how much food is thrown away," said John Tory, Mayor of Toronto. "The Love Food Hate Waste Canada campaign is key to our strategy to reduce food waste in Canada and is the first coordinated national approach to change consumer behaviour."
Media Contact: Ashalea Stone, 416.392.8306, [email protected]
"The City of Vancouver is aiming to be a zero waste city by 2040," said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. "We've already made big progress diverting compostable organic materials from the garbage, and now with the Love Food Hate Waste campaign we hope to inspire and empower Vancouver households to make their food go further by reconsidering how it's purchased, kept fresh and used efficiently."
Media Contact: Alexa Walker, 604.346.9370, [email protected]
"Working to reduce food waste is the next step in waste reduction for the City of Victoria," said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps. "With successful kitchen scraps and yard waste diversion programs and a new bylaw to reduce plastic bag waste, we're excited to be partnering on this education program to tackle food waste. Love Food Hate Waste is all about enjoying and cherishing the food we have. Reducing food waste can help people lower their grocery bill, while decreasing environmental impacts."
Media Contact: Rebecca Penz, 250.661.0085, [email protected]
"Metro Vancouver is proud to be a founding member of the National Zero Waste Council, a cross sectoral leadership initiative that brings together governments, businesses and non-government organizations to advance waste prevention and the circular economy in Canada," said Greg Moore, Board Chair, Metro Vancouver. "We are especially pleased to have partnered with the Council first in bringing Love Food Hate Waste to our growing region and now to the country through private and public sector partnerships."
Media Contact: Don Bradley, 604.788.2821, [email protected]
"On average, Canadian households are still throwing out over 100 kilograms of food per year—a volume that can be dramatically reduced if we refocus our efforts on the principles of 'reduce' and 'reuse' when it comes to the food in our fridges and pantries," said Russ Smith, Senior Manager, Environmental Resource Management with the Capital Regional District. "Food isn't garbage and keeping this material out of the landfill is good for both our environment and our pocketbooks."
Media Contact: Melanie Tromp Hoover, 250.360.3287, [email protected]
"The launch of Love Food Hate Waste Canada represents both the culmination of many months of collaboration between WRAP Global and the National Zero Waste Council and the start of a new and ambitious chapter for food waste prevention in Canada," said Claire Kneller, Head of Food - WRAP Global. "It builds on the fantastic work done by Metro Vancouver since 2015 and now includes multiple new and vital partners who will bring the messages of the campaign to people across the country."
Media Contact: Amanda Williamson, 011.44.01295.236643, [email protected]
SOURCE National Zero Waste Council
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