Approximately 1/3 of all food is wasted, globally. And that statistic becomes even more staggering when you realize that around 828 million people go hungry. 

Some of this food loss happens on the consumer level, where food can thrown out due to lack of education surrounding best before dates, or buying more than what’s needed. Other times it’s at the retailer/supplier level, where food is thrown out because it is “ugly” or due to inadequate storage and transportation (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2019).

Food waste is a huge environmental problem because;

• It contributes 8% of global emissions. When food is thrown out, it sits in landfills and releases methane (25x more damaging than CO2), and contributes to climate change.
• Landfilling food waste creates transportation emissions. Larger fleets of garbage trucks and increased fuel usage is required with increased trash amounts from households (Schreyer, 2019). 
• Waste of resources such as water, energy, land usage that could be used elsewhere. For example, throwing away food wastes so much water that, if combined, it could provide all the world’s household water needs (Let’s Talk Science, 2019).

Not only is food waste a social and environmental disaster, it’s also an economical problem. The average Canadian household wastes $1,766 every year on food that they don’t consume. With the rising cost of food, both people and the planet simply cannot afford food waste.

We’ve put together a list of food waste solutions to help save the planet and your wallet.