Carly Fraser, a member of our research team, was recently profiled by the CBC. Her project involved a photovoice study of the moment when “food” becomes “waste” in Guelph households.
The article discusses a very successful event that shared some of the results from this study; we will share video of the event when it becomes available.
The Italian parliament will be considering a law to make it easier for grocery stores to donate food, rather than putting it in the trash. Read more here.
The bill will focus on incentives for retailers, unlike the similar law passed in France that uses heavy fines to ensure compliance.
The Italian law will be read in parliament next Monday (March 21).
From the Think.Eat.Save website:
“The Think.Eat.Save campaign of the Save Food Initiative is a partnership between UNEP, FAO and Messe Düsseldorf, and in support of the UN Secretary-General’s Zero Hunger Challenge, which seeks to add its authority and voice to these efforts in order to galvanize widespread global, regional and national actions, catalyze more sectors of society to be aware and to act, including through exchange of inspiring ideas and projects between those players already involved and new ones that are likely to come on board.
We offer the Think.Eat.Save website as a portal to showcase these ideas to provide a one-stop shop for news and resources, and to launch our call for everyone to take action on this global concern.”
Our research team recently contributed to a Guelph Tribune article:
“Guelph researchers and local retailers tackle food waste dilemma”
Read about our research and our thoughts on ugly food here “atGuelph”:
We will have a display staffed by Kelly Hodgins at the Green Living Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend (March 27-29). Come learn about our research, as well as some great tips on reducing food waste in your own home.
Infographics created by Adrian C. D’Alessandro (adrian.c.dalessandro@gmail.com)
http://www.greenlivingonline.com/article/bite-sized-piece-research-university-guelph
As of January 1st 2015, Seattle and Metro Vancouver have both banned the disposal of food waste in order to increase diversion rates and save landfill space.
Enforcement is one part of the story:
“Recology CleanScapes driver Rodney Watkins issues a red tag — the scarlet letter of food waste in Seattle.” -Amy Radil/KUOW
Education and innovation are equally important strategies, and Metro Vancouver provides many options for different types of waste generators:
“How you can support the ban on food in the garbage” -Metro Vancouver
“Recycle food scraps at your building or business on-site with organics management systems” – Metro Vancouver
In November 2014, the Italian Ministry for the Environment, the National Plan for Prevention of Food Waste, and the University of Bologna convened the “Stop food waste. Feed the planet.” conference as an initiative of the semester of the Italian Presidency of the European Union Council. The Bologna Charter Against Food Waste was presented by the Italian Minister of the Environment in order to encourage governments in attendance to pledge themselves to a series of actions to prevent and address food waste.
This powerful video from the conference portrays the high stakes of food waste:
The Value Chain Management Centre has updated their estimates of the cost of food waste in Canada. In 2010, it was estimated that Canadian food waste was valued at $27 billion; that number has now been updated to $31 billion.
Read the full report here:
Click to access Food-Waste-in-Canada-27-Billion-Revisited-Dec-10-2014.pdf
Wayne Roberts cited our research (as presented in a recent Sustain Ontario conference call) in his article on food waste for Rabble.ca:
“Billions of kilograms of food waste? Now that should have been an election issue!”
Guelph Food Waste Research Project 