National campaign to address 2.2 million tonnes of avoidable food waste in Canada

Continuing from the success of the 2021 Spring food focused campaign, Love Food Hate Waste Canada is urging Canadians to combat climate change by rethinking food waste this holiday season.

Canada's 2.2 million tonnes of avoidable household food waste is equivalent to 9.8 million tonnes of CO2 and 2.1 million cars on the road. Research conducted by the National Zero Waste Council found that 63 percent of the food Canadians throw away at home could have been eaten. Vegetables and fruit tops the list - for example, every day in Canada 2,400,000 potatoes and over 1,225,000 apples are wasted.

"Preventing food waste is a something that is rooted in me," shared Jack Froese, who is a farmer, Chair of the National Zero Waste Council and Mayor of the Township of Langley. LFHW Canada sat down with Chair Froese to learn more about his food waste philosophy, as gleaned over decades of growing food.

"As a child, I grew up on an egg farm, and spent my early years learning about growing and producing a variety of foods," says Froese. "Now my family owns and operates a turkey farm, so every day I see the incredible hard work and hours farmers dedicate to putting nutritious food on Canadian tables. It is important to ensure those efforts don't get wasted." 

Love Food Hate Waste Canada's ‘5 Ways With' fall campaign features new tips and inspiration for using up seasonal holiday foods. Got half a bag of cranberries leftover? Bought more turkey than you needed? Potatoes sprouting quicker than expected? The ‘5 Ways With' campaign provides easy and quick solutions to use up these commonly wasted foods and encourages Canadians to rethink how to prevent food waste at home.

Froese's 5 ways to prevent food waste this Fall: 

• Level up turkey leftovers: The next best thing to turkey dinner is turkey soup! Roast the turkey bones before you add them to your pot of leftover veggies, spices and water for the richest and tastiest broth. 
• Freezer first: We all get excited by an abundance of produce, so it's easy to over-buy. A great way to save it is to cut it all up and freeze it for later. It's a great time saver too.
• Poultry portion plan: Start with prevention! We get a lot of questions at our farm about the right size of turkey. Buy what you need to prevent food waste in the first place, so when it comes to turkey or any main, always try and get the right size for your family.
• Embrace imperfect: We're conditioned to having perfect-looking food, but whether the potatoes have a bud or two or the pumpkin is lopsided, it's all good food! There are lots of ways to use imperfect produce and save money along the way.
• Canning season: Leftover cranberries? The holidays are a great time to get family together to make some jam and jelly, and you can even prep and preserve your cranberry jam for next year.