We’re living with a food crisis – so why do we keep dumping food out?


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We’re living in very strange food times. Everywhere you look, the cost of eating and feeding has skyrocketed, the stress on local food banks is at a breaking point, and yet, on the other end of the spectrum – we’re dumping food into landfills at an alarming rate.

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In a world of food insecurity, the idea of wasting any food is mind-boggling, especially as Sept. 29 is International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW), a subject particularly acute in view of what’s happening on Canada’s food scene. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which spearheads IDAFLAW, is sounding the alarm over this sector of the food world. The numbers are mind-boggling: According to the UN, an estimated third of all food produced – about 1.3 billion tonnes – is wasted or lost each year. About 14% of food globally and as much as 40% in some markets spoils before it even reaches retailers.

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We’re talking foods that have been “lost between harvest and retail. An estimated 17% is wasted in retail and at the consumption level,” notes the website. What’s devastating is that it comes at a time when 811 million people in the world…go hungry.

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And yet – there are tons of good food being thrown out, or dumped, either by consumers or by the very food companies who supply the goods.

In Canada, food waste is a growing disaster: Ontario’s Second Harvest reports that over half of all food made in Canada ends up wasted. The Government of Canada website reports that food loss and waste “occurs throughout the entire supply chain.”

The reality is, there are no easy answers to this growing crisis. According to Lovefoodhatewaste.ca,  “Canadians are throwing out more food than they realize,” noting research from the National Zero Waste Council revealed that 63% of the food Canadians throw away “could have been eaten!”

For the average Canadian household that amounts to 140 kilograms of wasted food per year – at a cost of more than $1,300 per household per year. For Canada as a whole, that amounts to almost 2.3 million tonnes of edible food wasted each year, costing Canadians in excess of $20 billion.

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Here’s the thing – food waste is a solvable issue. We all have to do our part – from the producers to the distributors to the consumers. Every little bit helps.

One company that has stepped up to the plate is called Too Good To Go, (toogoodtogo.ca) a free marketplace app that connects consumers to food sellers allowing them to sell surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. The food sellers recoup some of the lost revenue they typically throw away and consumers get tasty, perfectly good food for about one-third of the retail cost.

Sam Kashani, country manager for Too Good To Go Canada
Sam Kashani, country manager for Too Good To Go Canada Photo by Too Good To Go Canada /supplied

“Our goal is a world without food waste, while also eating great food and saving money,” says Sam Kashani, country manager for Too Good To Go Canada, in an interview with the Toronto Sun. “We know that in a country where many are food insecure, having food waste is an egregious problem. We also know that the methods for connecting food sellers to those who are seeking food is flawed.”

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Kashani notes that “when we waste food, we’re not only wasting the food items but also the resources, time, land and labour that went into creating it. We know that food waste is unpredictable – especially around holiday seasons – but we also believe that by thinking differently about the food we purchase, make and consume, can have a measurable impact.”

The process is quite simple: Once the app is downloaded, consumers pay for the food they select and all transactions are handled within the app (ie: no money exchanges hands at the store when the consumer goes to pick it up.) Businesses put Surprise Bags of their surplus food on the app for consumers to purchase at 1/3 the retail price (for example, for $5.99 the consumer would receive $18 worth of food.) The consumer reserves the bag via the app and picks up during the designated window.

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Kashani says the exact contents are a surprise, but consumers know the category (and a small description is available within the app) – examples being select “grocery items” “prepared foods” or “baked goods.”

The company, founded in Denmark in 2016, is now available in 17 countries across the world, and arrived in Canada during the pandemic. It’s now available in cities across the country, with more being added.

To date, the company has helped facilitate 164 million surprise bags of food that would have ended up in landfill.

Too Good To Go
Too Good To Go supplied

“We’re really encouraged by the reception we’ve received in Canada since launching last July, said Kashani. “By connecting consumers to businesses who have surplus food we’ve helped save more than 800,000 meals from going to waste from our more than 3,800 partners across Canada. This has equated to more than $9.5 million of food savings for consumers and $3.2 million in profit for our partners off of food that would otherwise have gone to waste, all while lowering greenhouse gas emissions from food waste and fighting climate change.”

Food Waste in Canada:

  • More than 50 per cent of all food produced in Canada is wasted – the weight of 273 CN towers, and the equivalent weight of 736,000 TTC streetcars
  • The amount of food wasted is enough to feed every Canadian for five months
  • This food waste equates to 35.5 million tons/year
  • 11.2 million tons of this are still perfectly edible and avoidable

-To Good To Go

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