Food waste rescue a 'huge opportunity' for Vancouver Island residents, say advocates

With the cost of living and the climate crisis affecting all Canadians, cutting down on food waste is crucial.

On Vancouver Island, a solution is being pitched to ditch "best before" dates on some groceries to avoid food waste.

Russ Smith is known in his family for making a mean "old meat sandwich."

"Which is meat that I think is fine and I smelled and I perceive it's OK," he said. "No one else will eat it because it's been in the fridge for four days or whatever it might be."

Smith works for the Capital Regional District where avoidable food waste accounts for roughly 10 per cent of what goes in the garbage.

"There’s about 18,000 tons of avoidable food waste that goes to the landfill each year," he said.

That's despite a years-long ban on organic materials at the Hartland Landfill.

One of the drivers of food waste is best before dates.

"It doesn't mean bad after," said Sylvain Charlebois, agrifood analytics lab director at Dalhousie University.

Last year, Charlebois surveyed Canadians to see if they'd be OK with ditching the dates.

"About a quarter of Canadians would be interested in seeing them leave," said Charlebois.

While some U.K. grocers have scrapped best before dates on some items, he says it's unlikely we'll see that happen Canada-wide.

"Municipalities, provinces, and feds would have to agree on this. Good luck with that," he said with a laugh.

'PEOPLE IN NEED'

Charlebois encourages people to rescue food that would otherwise be tossed. It's something that Nanaimo's Loaves and Fishes food bank already does.

Last year, the food bank organization saved more than 1.2 million kilograms of food from Mid-Island grocery stores.

"The food that’s good goes to people in need. The food that’s not so good is made available to local farmers and then if local farmers don’t want it, we compost it," said Peter Sinclair, executive director of Loaves and Fishes.

The food recovery program is coordinated through a company called FoodMesh, which says about 58 per cent of all food produced in Canada is never consumed.

"Food waste is a huge opportunity and we just work to capitalize on that opportunity and make sure that food goes to people instead of going into the dumpster," said Sinclair.

Whether that food is one of Smith's famous "old meat sandwiches" or a carton of milk a few days past its best before date.

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This is part one of a two-part series that examines best before dates in Canada. Part two will have experts discuss which products actually require strict best before dates.