Feedback from the Food…

Feedback from the Food Systems Lab

The Food Systems Lab is a one-year pilot Social Innovation Lab funded by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation working on solutions to address the issue of food waste and food insecurity in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Through this collaborative process we aim to contribute towards a resilient, sustainable and just food system in Toronto and beyond.

•Systems approach – It is absolutely vital that the working group overseeing the development of the Food and Organic Waste Reduction Framework are well versed in and committed to a systems approach to food waste reduction. Small assumptions make it so easy to overlook or disregard potential partnerships and solutions. For example, although farm surplus is regulated by the ministry of agriculture, partnerships could be made to help ensure connections to innovative solutions in the food industry to increase use of ‘seconds’ and share resource diversion innovations with the food industry.

•A multi-pronged approach – With an issue like food waste that is ubiquitous across sectors and embedded in our policies and economies, we need to equally value diverse efforts across sectors including better IC&I innovation to use byproducts; residential food literacy, education and renewed convenience of systems – eg in multi-unit residential; enhanced diversion programs and technology) would help ensure that all possible avenues for reducing wasted food are pursued and that setting priorities does not disregard other avenues for reduction. For example, prioritizing a ban on organics in landfill should not preclude efforts to educate youth and train professionals or adjust policy to support community scale solutions.

•Increase disposal fees – The single greatest reason for our food waste and wasted food is that in many cases it is still cheaper to dispose of organics than to process, compost, convert to biofuel or render it. Taxes on disposal fees would trigger all kinds of innovation to repurpose and redirect food, treating it as a resource rather than waste, having the same effect of higher food prices without the additional stress on food insecure households.

•Clarify the difference between 'wasted food' and 'food waste' – To reiterate the recommendations of the Ontario Public Health Association, we must clarify the priority of reducing wasted food at point source, which could be redistributed and used for human consumption or other purposes, and food waste, inedible organic resources that require very different policies to ensure diversion and conversion to compost and/or energy.

•Addressing food insecurity and the donor tax credit conundrum – As the OPHA also stated, reducing food waste in the manner that we have done to date cannot be associated with increasing food security, as encouraging donations with financial reward encourages “dumping” of products to foodbanks which are over-extended as is and have to deal with sorting and disposal inedible or inappropriate donations with minimal resources. This also insinuates that foodbanks are a solution to food insecurity while statistics show they are a necessary emergency approach, but do not resolve food insecurity as would ensuring a living income for all households.

•Education is key – waste is something we have been trained not to think about in our society. We are taught to throw it ‘away’ as if there was such a thing as ‘away’. With 47% of food waste being produced at the household level. A great emphasis will have to be put on social marketing, reaching school kids to train their families, and even on in-person training or non-pick up or financial consequences if people are clearly not understanding waste separation. It should also be considered to extend waste fees to the household level in all municipalities.

•Facilitate food surplus processing – there is a lot of talk of diversion and of rendering, composting, and conversion to biofuel, but there is much economic opportunity in processing surplus food into value-added products (stale bread/crusts into beer, bananas into banana bread, veggies into soups, fruit into juices) which should be encouraged through partnerships, information-sharing programs, and bans or taxes on food waste disposal which would spur innovation.

•Don’t disregard the small scale – When discussing global issues of climate change in the context of provincial policy, it is easy to overlook the community-scale, but provincial governed policy effects the ability of communities to tighten their own loop on food waste. For example, the ability of local compost distributors to collect quality compostables from restaurants and grocery stores in hindered by EPA regulation designed to ensure the safety of large scale industrial waste haulers.

•Incorporate Indigenous teachings – In the development of a circular economy, as well as working towards reconciliation, it is vital to seek guidance and consultation from the Indigenous communities whose teachings and practices reflect 11,000 years of sustainable civilization on this land. We encourage active and compensated consultation for the exchange of this invaluable knowledge and weaving of these teachings and principles with modern systems and technology. May we suggest that to not leave this comment as an afterthought, that the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and Environmental Policy Division Resource Recovery Policy Branch connect with your nearby neighbours, at Dodem Kanonhsa’ (55 St. Clair East) - a space for learning and fostering greater acceptance, understanding and harmony between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples.

We commend you in advance for your consideration of these recommendations,

Sincerely,

Kelsey Carriere,

Food Systems Lab

[Original Comment ID: 211365]