The City of Kamloops is partnering up with Love Food Hate Waste Canada, in a bid to reduce food waste in the city.
Sustainability Educator Jaimi Garbutt says nearly half of the food waste in Canada comes from people’s houses.
“We can reduce the waste just by purchasing less food, storing our food properly and better using leftovers,” she said.
“So ensuring that we’re taking those leftovers to school or work the next day or even just freezing the food, so you can have a quick meal at a later date.”
The Love Food Hate Waste campaign comes in response to a 2017 study which found that the average Canadian household wasted 308 pounds of food each year, costing more than $1,100.
“Just talking to residents within the community, and there are a lot of them who are throwing away food that maybe wasn’t stored properly,” Garbutt added. “Maybe like your lettuce for instance, it’s started to wilt so that ended up going to the landfill.”
“Had it been stored properly, it could have been still nice and crisp and used in a salad.”
Garbutt was asked if there was a goal for the campaign in Kamloops.
“We definitely want to see the weights of the garbage trucks going to the landfill go down,” she said.
“We also want to see people who see the financial gain for when they are not wasting food because there is a financial implication to all the residents when they are just throwing out perfectly good food.”
The campaign has been piloted in Metro Vancouver since 2015.