Happy New Year! There are no better 2022 resolutions than the ones that improve yourself, your habits, your health, and your impact on the planet all at once! We’re talking about simple eco-friendly food resolutions that can make a huge difference to so many.
Food waste is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, if food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third-worst emitter worldwide, after China and the U.S. Yet, if we all do our part, we can make a real and positive impact! This surplus, good food could be diverted and delivered directly to those organizations and people who need it most. In Canada, one in seven people struggles to put food on the table, in spite of the fact that our food production creates enough food to feed everyone.
Make your 2022 resolutions truly count this year by lessening your food impact on the planet and helping those in need. Here are 5 eco-friendly New Year’s resolutions to start doing now in your home—and make good habits for yourself, your community, and the planet.
5 Eco-Friendly 2022 Resolutions to Save the Planet
Resolution Idea #1: Eat Sustainably
Eat more vegetables more often, and less meat, less often. The footprint of meat is large because of the sheer amount of water, grains, resources, and energy that it takes to grow the feed that animals like grain-fed cows eat. When you do eat meat, choose free-range, grass-fed locally and ethically raised meat, wherever possible. When you’re meal planning for the new year, have a Meatless Monday every week. Or, if you’re having a Taco Tuesday, make them vegetarian. Make it your resolution to add more fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains to every meal.
Dan Barber, the famous chef and author of The Third Plate, wrote a manifesto that argues, according to the Guardian, for the “radical shift in what our dinner plate should look like: away from a slab of protein (even if grass-fed) with a side of vegetables (even if organic) and toward a plate of great-tasting vegetables with perhaps a seasoning or a sauce of meat. ‘The balance has to change,’ he says. ‘For all sorts of reasons we shouldn’t be serving a pork chop except on celebratory holidays and special events.’”
The key here is to think critically about what you’re eating and to make conscious choices to be more sustainable.
Resolution Idea #2: Support Local
Buying directly from local farmers is another great 2022 resolution for so many reasons. Not only are you buying fresh produce that is in season and full of good, healthy nutrients, but you’re also lessening the carbon emissions that it takes to bring the food to you while supporting your local community.
Distribution-wise, food has a large footprint when you think of all of the trucks, boats, planes, gas, emissions, pollution, pesticides, packaging, and refrigeration that it takes to get from the farm to your table. Locally farmed produce, on the other hand, travels much shorter distances and has a smaller footprint in that respect.
Likewise, you can often ask the farmer directly how your food was farmed and make informed decisions about what you’re putting in your body and how you’re spending your dollars. The local multiplier effect is a great way to make your dollars count. When you shop locally for groceries and buy local farm produce, your money stays within your community, recirculating to support other small businesses and your neighbours.
Resolution Idea #3: Learn About Your Food
Do you know how your food got to your plate? If you shop at a local farmer’s market, then you probably know how your food was farmed—and how much time, energy, money, and resources went into farming it and getting it to you. This information is power and it will help you place more value on your food. Hopefully, this will help you to think twice about letting it go to waste.
For example, knowing that one-third of all food produced globally (though mostly in developed countries) goes to waste, may help you change the consumption patterns in your household to be more sustainable. Make it a 2022 resolution to get informed on food consumption, food systems, and food waste in your country. There are many great educational resources to learn from and get inspired to make a positive and meaningful impact, including:
Our consumption patterns in developed countries are unsustainable and have to change. Make it a food resolution to do a kitchen inventory before you shop and buy only what you need. Too many of us overshop, buying too many food items that go bad before we even have a chance to eat them.
Buying only what you need will not only reduce your food footprint but also help you save money on food that will only go to waste. In fact, according to Second Harvest’s Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste report, the annual cost of food loss and waste is $1,766 in every Canadian household. That’s nearly $5 a day that your household likely spends on food that will go to waste. Make it your resolution to change that (for your wallet, but also for the planet and society).
“Reduce, reuse, and recycle” can apply to your food too. Reduce what you buy, eat it, and get creative with leftovers, roots, shoots, and stems. For some helpful food waste tips on how to grocery shop and eat more sustainably, read 10 Clever & Easy Kitchen Hacks to Reduce Your Home’s Food Waste.
Resolution Idea #5: Get Involved
Did you know that Second Harvest is the largest food rescue organization in Canada? It is our dual mission for Canada to eliminate hunger and food waste. We work across the supply chain from farmers to grocers to divert their good, surplus food before it goes to waste and redistribute it to non-profits and organizations that help feed those millions of Canadians in need.
From September 2020 to August 2021, Second Harvest (with the help of generous donors, agency partners, workers, and volunteers) rescued 41 million pounds of surplus food that was redistributed to over 6,400 nonprofit programs across Canada. This surplus food fed 4.2 million Canadians! That’s huge!
There is always more work to be done and great ways to get involved. Learn more about how to get surplus food to your organization or give food and funds with Second Harvest’s Food Rescue.
Beyond Resolutions for a Sustainable Food Future
Once you know the impact and cost of food waste in Canada and beyond, it’s hard not to think about it—or want to educate others. Share what you’ve learned here. Dig deep into where your food comes from and what happens behind the scenes at your local farms, grocery stores, manufacturing, and distribution centres. Get vocal with your food resolutions to help hold yourself accountable and inspire others to do the same. Talk to local business owners.
Get to know your community and meet your neighbours. Volunteer and donate your time to help those who do not have the same access to good food as you. Most importantly, don’t let good food go to waste—eat it!
This past year has been one full of hope, generosity, and community. The generous support of Second Harvest’s donors who share in our dual mission of hunger relief and waste reduction in communities across the country was absolutely outstanding. Second Harvest’s 2021 Annual Report has just been released and here is a look back at the impact you helped us achieve.
What’s most incredible is how much we can accomplish when we work together to feed our country. From food donors, delivery truck drivers, farmers, grocers, and volunteers to financial donors, governments, voters, and consumers, we all play a role in helping Canadians in need and protecting our environment.
Highlights From Second Harvest’s 2021 Annual Report
Thanks to the generous support of our donors and Canadians who helped rescue and divert surplus food to those in need, here is the impact we were able to make on hunger relief and reducing food waste on the environment.
Hunger Relief: Helping Feed Over 4.2 million Canadians This Year
Caption: Highlights from Second Harvest’s 2021 Impact Report
Second Harvest was able to support over 4.2 million Canadians in accessing food at over 3,000 social service organizations. This rescued food, that would have otherwise gone to the landfill, provided an average of 110,000 meals across the country every day.
The impact of COVID is still being felt, especially by families on low incomes and those Canadians who found themselves unemployed at the onset of COVID-19. People who never had to rely on community food programs before started reaching out to their local non-profits, spurring the demand for fresh and healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, dairy, and proteins.
For example, as a partner of the Surplus Food Rescue Program, Second Harvest received over 9 million pounds of fresh surplus food like eggs, salmon, chicken, and fresh produce donated from businesses struggling as a result of the pandemic. This food was delivered to over 350 local communities, from PEI to BC, and made into nourishing meals to support hunger relief.
Environmental Impact: Diverting 41 Million Pounds of Food From Landfills
Nearly 60% of food produced in Canada is lost and wasted annually, including 11.2 million metric tons that is edible and potentially rescuable, and it’s Second Harvest’s mission to increase the amount of food we recover every year. In fiscal 2021, Second Harvest rescued 41 million pounds of food – a whopping $120 million worth of deliciously healthy surplus food that was diverted from being lost to landfills.
Keeping edible food out of landfills meant that food did not decompose and release greenhouse gases. Food rescue averted the release of 162 million pounds of greenhouse gases – this is the environmental footprint equivalent of taking more than 22,650 cars off of the road for a year. It also prevented the waste of the 22.5 billion litres of water equivalent necessary to grow and produce that food.
By diverting surplus food to feed those in need, we’ve prevented needless waste and catastrophic environmental damage at every step along the food chain. And we are determined to do more.
Partners in Our Mission: No Waste. No Hunger.
This was all possible because of our incredible partnerships. Second Harvest has over 20,000 committed individuals, foundations, and corporate donors who are partners in our mission for Canada of no waste and no hunger.
Second Harvest is blessed with over 4,500 generous food donors, including Sobeys Inc., Conagra Brands, Costco, Mondelez International, and Loblaw Companies, as well as financial donors, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, The Sprott Foundation, The Weston Family Foundation, The Walmart Foundation, and The Nikita Foundation, to name a few.
Likewise, the Emergency Food Security Fund project allowed Second Harvest to provide emergency food support funding of over $8.4 million to 563 communities, or 1,385 organizations, dedicated to feeding Canadians in need.
“To each of you who have become a part of our Second Harvest community over this past year, and to those who have been loyal partners to us for many years, we absolutely could not have done this without you,” wrote CEO Lori Nikkel in Second Harvest’s annual report. “Consider us the facilitators: through your funding, food and other in-kind donations, you made this possible. We thank you and look forward to forging even stronger relationships in the coming year.”
Behind every hunger relief statistic is a person. And a story. The millions of Canadians experiencing food insecurity are our fellow neighbours, co-workers, friends, and community members. Imagine the same number of people living in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta combined are all fed by charitable organizations across the country.
The organizations that rise up to meet this outstanding need, feeding our fellow Canadians, are run by dedicated workers and volunteers, working tirelessly to support their community members. Our recent research, Canada’s Invisible Food Network, revealed that there are some 61,000 non-profit organizations and charities of all kinds, from schools, temples and churches to food banks and shelters, that provide food at no or low cost. That is four times the number of grocery stores in Canada.
This past fiscal year, Second Harvest helped feed an estimated 4.2 million Canadians at over 3,000 charities and non-profits from coast to coast thanks to our dedicated supporters—generous grocers, business owners, farmers, organizations, foundations, and of course, people, and community members themselves.
In the spirit of the holiday season, we are shining a light on the people behind Canada’s outstanding hunger relief efforts. They are the ones who are doing the life-giving work of feeding Canadians in a time of need and helping to protect our environment against the impacts of food waste.
Here are but a few of their stories from this past year. They are stories of hope, need, care, and community to inspire and warm your heart this giving season.
Meet the People Behind Canada’s Hunger Relief Efforts
Feed Nova Scotia Turns Gift Donation Into Meals
“For the thousands of Nova Scotians who struggle with food insecurity, your gift of 17,215 kgs of food represents the goodness of Spring. Thank you so much for caring, and for supporting our work. One in six households in Nova Scotia is food insecure, meaning they have inadequate or insecure access to food because of financial constraints. Food insecurity can be devastating to someone’s emotional and physical health. We know because we hear first-hand from people who live it. We also hear about the difference it makes when people have access to food support through our network of food banks, shelters and meal programs across the province. This month alone, we’ll provide our neighbours across the province with a million dollars worth of food, as we continue to push for long-term change. It’s a big job, and it’s only possible with supporters like you by our side. Thank you for providing comfort, hope and possibility this Spring.”
—Nick, Feed Nova Scotia, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Providing Healthy Meals to BC Families in the Pandemic
Caption: Image from Agassiz-Harrison Community Services food bank
“For the last year Agassiz-Harrison Community Services has been providing meals to families through our It Takes A Village family dinner program. And through that program, we would feed an average of 25-35 people on a very tight budget. When everything happened with COVID-19 we knew we wanted to keep these meals going and support our families. We had no idea what it would mean to our community. We are now serving 65-75 people every Monday night but still have the same budget! We were quickly becoming victims of our own success and were going to start having to turn people away. Thank goodness for Second Harvest! We now have enough to get us through the next several months and are able to say ‘yes’ to every family who needs a meal! Our clients are so grateful and so are we.”
“One client said, ‘I am a busy mom with an infant and a 4-year-old and my husband is never home at dinnertime. Not having to worry about making dinner solo once a week has been so helpful. We loved the community interaction that went with the dinner. Since COVID, we are even more appreciative of this service, as it is harder to get groceries with a family in tow. Our household income is being significantly impacted by the pandemic, having one healthy meal a week provided is such a blessing.’”
—Andra, Agassiz-Harrison Community Services
Shining a Light on a Hopeful, Generous Season
Ross Robinson of The John Howard Society of Brandon, in Brandon, Manitoba served over 15,000 hot and nutritious chef-inspired meals to folks in need during COVID-19. When Second Harvest contacted him to see if his community could use surplus food in the area, Robinson put the offer out. The need was profound and the response was immediate. Many local programs, especially schools, needed food and the surplus donations were coming in the nick of time.
As a message to generous donors who made it all possible, he said, “You single-handedly make a difference to thousands of people every week through your generosity.”
The Generous Food Donors Supporting Canada’s Hunger Relief
Second Harvest is blessed with 4,500 generous food donors who share in our mission of no waste, no hunger. Together, and with an army of logistics support (as you’ll soon read), we connect these outstanding donors with surplus food to those organizations and people who need it.
For instance, the Sobeys warehouse in Manitoba had a major food donation this past year for Second Harvest. Traffix Logistics generously provided the transportation, delivering the food to Winnipeg School Districts. A Traffix’s delivery team member wrote:
“I want to say that this program and the Second Harvest initiative, hold a very special place in my heart. Growing up, my mother was a struggling single mother of two. We often didn’t have enough money for food…We often had to use community resources, such as food banks, to survive the month. It is now, as a mother with a young daughter, that I realize how difficult it must have been for my mother and now for other families who struggle day in and day out.”
Caption: Image from Saskatoon Friendship Inn
Canadians Helping Canadians in a Time of Need
The Honourable Bernard Davis, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change said, “The simple act of reducing, reusing and recycling our waste can have a tremendous impact in protecting our environment and supporting people in our communities in unique ways.” This statement couldn’t ring more true for us and our supporters.
It is our hope—and our mission—that every Canadian who experiences food insecurity will be fed through this circle of kindness.
Second Harvest is dedicated to continuing to look for opportunities to further serve our communities. We will continue to lobby and campaign against unnecessary food loss and waste and its harmful impact on our environment and people. We are hopeful for the future of our food systems and food security.
With your generous support, we look forward to another year of working with the inspiring people behind Canada’s hunger relief efforts. Thank you.
That’s about 35.5 million metric tonnes—or a small city of skyscrapers in weight. Every. Year.
Of that FWL in Canada alone, 32% was avoidable and edible food that could have helped feed communities in need of good food. That’s equivalent to 11.2 million metric tonnes of waste thrown into landfills.
2. 32% of that FWL was avoidable
To put that into perspective, that’s 95 CN Towers worth of avoidable waste annually.
3. 4 million Canadians—including 1.4 million children—are food insecure
Despite the fact that 11.2 million metric tonnes of food waste were avoidable (ie. fresh, edible, delicious and nutritious but thrown out for cosmetic or market reasons), 4 million Canadians struggle to access healthy food. That’s almost 11% of the population of Canada—and a quarter of them are children.
4. 56.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions annually from FWL in Canada
This isn’t just a hunger relief problem, it’s also damaging our planet. In fact, FWL makes up almost 60% of the food industry’s environmental footprint.
When food ends up in a landfill, it creates a methane gas that is 25 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.
5. $49.46 billion is the annual cost of FWL in Canada
Based on the consumer value of food, the total avoidable food waste and loss
in Canada was a staggering $49.46 billion annually. That represents 51.8% of the money that Canadians spent on food from retail stores in Canada in 2016.
6. The cost of FWL could have fed every Canadian for almost 5 months
That annual cost of FWL in Canada equals 3% of Canada’s 2016 GDP and could feed every person living in Canada for almost five months.
7. 21% of FWL at home was avoidable and creates 2.38 million metric tonnes of waste
Food waste isn’t just a problem for farmers, manufacturers, distributors, grocers and restaurants. It’s a consumer problem too—and happens every day right in our kitchens. If 21% of the food we throw out was avoidable, what does that say about our shopping and purging habits?
8. $1,766 annual cost per Canadian household in avoidable food loss
We’re paying into the broken food system. In fact, we consumers spend an average of $1,766 every year on groceries that we don’t eat (but could have). That’s like buying a $5 coffee every single day and never drinking it or paying a $148 monthly fee for nothing.
Canada’s Invisible Food Network report by Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International (VCMI) is truly the first of its kind. No other report has identified and mapped out every non-governmental organization that feeds Canadians
in need. The results are shocking, shedding light on a massive patchwork of community food organizations. Canada’s Invisible Food Network report measured the quantity of food, food types and need, supply and demand, shortfalls, and the impact of COVID-19 on food-insecure Canadians and the organizations that feed them.
This research is the first and essential step toward understanding the challenges facing millions of Canadians and the organizations they depend on. It is the first step to
making a plan to make our country’s food systems more sustainable for our citizens, organizations, and our environment.
Here are the top hunger relief stats based on findings from Canada’s Invisible Food Network report that every Canadian should know.
7 Hunger Relief Stats From Canada’s Invisible Food Network Report
1. Canada has 4X more food charities than grocery stores
Canada has 15,344 grocery stores, including big-box retailers and local corner shops. There are over 61,000 non-profit community organizations in Canada that provide food at no or low cost to fill an essential need. Only 3,600 of them are primary food providers, such as soup kitchens. The rest are schools, clubs, faith-based organizations, and community centres that also provide meals.
2. In 2021, 6.7 million Canadians (~18%) relied on food charities
Caption: From Canada’s Invisible Food Network report: 18% of Canadians depend on food charities to eat.
Roughly the population of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan combined depended on food charities in 2021 to feed themselves and their families. This is no small number of Canadians who are food insecure and struggle to access good, healthy food.
3. If food waste were a country, it would be the third worst greenhouse gas emitter globally
If food waste and loss were a country, it would be the worst emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the U.S. That is partly because food that decomposes in landfills creates methane gas that is 25 times more harmful to our planet than carbon dioxide. It is also because of the sheer volume of food waste. Globally, one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted.
4. 24.6 Billion lbs (11.2 million metric tonnes) of potentially avoidable food loss and waste goes to landfills every year
Second Harvest’s 2019 report, The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste, found that 24.6 billion lbs (11.2 million metric tonnes) of potentially avoidable food loss and waste goes to landfills in Canada annually. If every meal weighs one pound, that’s potentially 24.6 billion meals that could have fed Canadians in need—with leftovers to spare.
5. One in seven Canadians were food insecure due to COVID-19
Food insecurity, or the lack of access to food, has been growing steadily in Canada for decades. Prior to the pandemic, approximately 4.4 million Canadians, including 1.4 million children, were food insecure. COVID-19 caused global uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, and surges in unemployment rates.
By May 2020, one in seven Canadian families struggled to put food on their tables, according to Statistics
Canada.
6. 72% more Canadians used food charities during COVID-19
Every food charity across the country saw an uptick in the number of people served because of COVID-19. Before the pandemic, 5.3 million people were served. That number increased to 6.6 million during COVID-19, jumping from a daily average of 160 people served at each charitable food organization to 275 people.
By food weight, the total weight of food and beverages needed to feed those in need went from 6.1 billion lbs in 2019 to 9.9 billion lbs in 2021. That is a 61% increase.
7. Despite increased demand, the national shortfall decreased from 319M lbs to 162M lbs
Even though the demand for food donations spiked dramatically during the pandemic, the generosity and adaptability of Canadians helped lessen the gap between food supply and demand. However, a shortfall of 162 million pounds of food needed to feed Canadians is still a shortfall.
This may go to show that if we work together, coordinating our efforts to distribute surplus food across the invisible food network, that we can feed more people in need. But, given the abundance of food produced—and lost and wasted—every year, this shortfall is unacceptable.
Now that we have the hunger relief stats and understand the scope of our systemic challenges—and those organizations in Canada that are working to make a change—it’s time to make a plan. It’s time to enact policies that make our food chain more sustainable for all (and for our planet).
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