Reducing Food Waste: Apps, documentaries and strategies!
Posted: June 14, 2017
Categories: GoodFoodBites
On May 30th 2017, Sustain Ontario went to the Policies, Practices, and Partnerships: Reducing Food Waste Symposium, also known as Wasteless 2017. It was hosted by the Halton Food Council in partnership with Sustain Ontario, the Ontario Food Collaborative and Country Heritage Park, and with support from Riverstone Branding.
This full day event featured several keynote speakers and gave individuals the opportunity to engage with others and learn more about the National Zero Waste Council’s, National Food Waste Reduction Strategy.
This symposium was informative and pointed out some interesting and disheartening facts about food waste. For instance, The Provision Coalition’s food waste report states that in Canada alone, $31 billion dollars of food is wasted annually. Also, globally, 1/3rd of food produced for humans is wasted before it hits the production line.
During a breakout “fishbowl” session at the symposium, groups discussed various topics around food waste and food waste reduction. Through those discussions many tools such as Apps, websites, documentaries, and workshops were mentioned. We would like to share those resources with you today, to help you reduce your food waste!
The Flashfood App allows grocery stores and restaurants to sell high-quality, surplus food at discounted prices to consumers.
A shopper can see the deals in their area and purchase items directly through the FlashFood App. This app allows shoppers to save money, increases revenue for the vendors and lessens our environmental impact as a whole! Grocery stores and restaurants can give you discounts of up to 50% off the original sale price and by using this app we can reduce food waste! Flashfood also donates a percentage of their proceeds each year to organizations helping with food insecurity!
Flashfood is live in:
Longo’s, 111 Elizabeth St Toronto, ON
Farm Boy, 1415 Beaverbrook Ave, London, ON
Farm Boy, 1045 Wellington Road London, ON
To read more about Flashfood’s story, click here.
The Misfits program sells not-so-attractive “misfit” fruits and vegetables at all Save-on-foods in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The unattractive produce is usually overlooked and does not make it to the shelf, however, they are just as delicious and nutritious as the rest! Misfits can provide shoppers with up to 50% off at the Save-On-Foods. If you’re in these areas, take advantage of the high sales and visit a Save-On-Foods near you!
The Food is Free project grows community and food, while helping gain independence from a broken agricultural system. This movement started in January 2012 in Austin, Texas. It teaches individuals how to connect with neighbors and line up your streets and front lawns with community gardens that provide a free harvest to anyone!
This project started off as one front yard garden and has since made it’s way around the world to 300 cities!
check out the About Us section on the website.
This easy innovative app, based in Montreal, gives shoppers notifications on discounts and allows you to see what’s on sale nearby.With this app, food is sold and enjoyed rather than thrown away! Retailers identify their surplus food and advertise them live onto Ubifood. A customer can then purchase the food on the app and show the voucher to the store to redeem the items!
“Delicious entertainment- you will never look at your fridge again in the same way”
Just Eat It is a 74-minute documentary film about food and food waste rescue created by Peg Leg Flims in partnership with British Columbia’s Network.
Filmmakers and Food lovers Jen and Grant indulge into the issue of waste from the farm, through retail and back to their fridges. The film captures the two individuals who quit grocery shopping cold turkey to survive on foods that would otherwise be thrown away. The film also observes our systemic obsession with expiry dates, perfect produce and portion sizes, and how it all contributes to the consequences globally we are facing. On the website, you can see the numerous awards the film has won- it is a must see!
For more information, check out these top Food Waste Apps from around the world found on The Guardian.