The impact of food waste goes far beyond what ends up in our green bins or landfills. It affects our climate, our wallets, and our communities from wasted water and emissions to economic loss.

In part two of our conversation with Dr. Kate Parizeau, we are talking about why food waste matters and what can actually be done about it - from policy and infrastructure changes to simple actions we can all take at home.

Resources:

• Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International report - The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste
• Food insecurity among Canadian families (StatsCan)
• The Seed (Guelph, ON)
• Echo Food Rescue (Lacombe, AB)
• Circular Innovation Council

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In part two of my conversation with Dr. Kate Parizeau, we are talking about why food waste matters and what can actually be done about it. From policy and infrastructure changes to simple actions we can all take at home.

Bri Huot: Dr. Parizeau, thank you for joining me for part two of this introduction to Food Waste.

Dr. Parizeau: I'm so glad to be here.

Bri Huot: So in the first episode, we spoke about what food waste is, where it comes from, how we as Canadians view and participate in food loss and food waste.

Dr. Parizeau: So when food ends up in a landfill, it's decomposing in an anaerobic environment. And the reason that's a problem is that when food decomposes that way, it creates different kinds of gases.

And a big one is methane. And methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So if something were to decompose, for example, laying out in a backyard, an apple falls down, it would primarily, uh, generate carbon dioxide. Methane is much more potent, especially in the short term, so in a 30 something year window.

And really, we're concerned about climate change right now and in the next couple of decades. So we wanna prevent methane as much as possible.

Bri Huot: And so methane when we're talking about, uh, aerobic and anaerobic, I think those are the terminology I, based on my understanding, that's with oxygen and without oxygen, correct?

That's right.

Bri Huot: and that's where the methane comes from.

Dr. Parizeau: Yes.

Bri Huot: So how does food waste tie into bigger environmental issues like climate change, maybe even water use? I know we talked about methane and that's a more potent greenhouse gas than, um, carbon dioxide. So how, how is that building into the larger environmental issues? Mm-hmm.

Dr. Parizeau: When I think about the environmental impacts of food waste, a big part of what we need to realize is that the reason food waste is such a big deal is because our agricultural system has a huge environmental footprint.

So when we're wasting food, we're wasting all of the agricultural inputs that went into generating that food. We're wasting the water, we're wasting the arable land and the soil. We're wasting all of the fossil fuels that we're used to grow that food and to transport it. So that's a big part of the impact.

And so they estimate that the food waste generated in Canada, the avoidable food waste in terms of water loss is the equivalent of 53 days of water flowing over Niagara Falls. That's huge.

Bri Huot: Wow.

Dr. Parizeau: In terms of emissions, it's the equivalent of about 5.6 million passenger vehicles. These are big numbers. We've done some estimates from our own research with household food waste, and we find that, uh, the numbers, they don't sound as impressive in some ways, but it might help us to think about it a bit differently.

Bri Huot: Wow.

Dr. Parizeau: So it's, these are big numbers and again, it's because our agricultural system has a big footprint.

Bri Huot: Absolutely. And you know, to put that into context for, for Canadians and listeners like that, relating it to showers and relating it to Niagara Falls, I think that's a great way for people to be able to visualize it because it's so easy to be able to just.

Uh, put your food waste. Some people put it in the garbage depending on what municipality they live in. Um, where I live in the city of Edmonton, we have green bins. So, you know, when I put it in the green bin, it's, you know, once it leaves my house, it, it's gone. I don't know what happens to it. Um, you know, I, I have a general awareness, but it's so easy for people to just do that and not make the connection.

And so it's really gr not great, but it's, it's good for us to be able to understand and put those things together. Outside of just the environmental impact, I assume there are also economic and social impacts when it comes to food loss and food waste?

So these are the numbers that come from that second harvest report they estimated in 2024 that it's about 58 billion dollars per year in wasted food. They say it's 46.5% of all food in Canada that's wasted. These are huge, huge numbers, right? And so then the scale, uh, in terms of money is huge. I've seen different estimates for greenhouse gas emissions, that it's somewhere between six and 9% of all of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

So it is an environmental issue. It is an economic issue, both at a national scale and an individual scale. The social. Connections are a, a little bit more complicated, but mm-hmm. I'm happy to think that through with you if you wanna talk about it a bit more.

Who don't have the funds to be able to, to purchase healthy food for themselves and for their family. And there was a group that had won an Emerald Award this past year called Echo Food Rescue out of Lacomb Alberta. Uh, they won for, for their wonderful idea of, of, and maybe it seems like a simple idea, but putting it into action in a small community in Alberta is incredible.

And so they're taking food from. From local grocery stores, independent grocery stores, larger chains like Costco, bringing that food. Um, and then it's, it's for free to anyone who wants it and they're helping to reduce food insecurity in more rural areas. And so that makes me think of, I assume, and of course this is a larger conversation and quite, quite complicated, but food insecurity when it comes to all this food that's going to waste sometimes, maybe it's.

Dr. Parizeau: There's definitely a connection there. The way that I like to think about it is food security is a huge issue in Canada.

So food security is a really big issue. Food waste is a really big issue too, and for me, they are two symptoms of problems in our food system. Just the way that we organize our entire food system and distribution, um, our economies of food in this country. I think the, the part that's a bit more complex for me is that sometimes when people hear those two things put together, they say, well then the solution is to take all this wasted food and give it to low income people.

Mm-hmm. So part of the Second Harvest report found that 42% of the food that's wasted in Canada could have been rescued. Right. Like saying this is a real lost opportunity. I think what I'm really excited about are those solutions that say, yes, there's this, in the meantime, emergency solution, and also can we build systems that address those root causes.

So there's a great organization that I love here in Guelph called The Seed and they do a, a series of different activities to address food insecurity. And part of it is that emergency food aid, but they also try to build up people's incomes, provide sliding scale food for people. They, uh, do some food rescue in their upcycle kitchen.

Bri Huot: . We've talked a little bit about how big this issue is, how complex it is. So when you're talking to people and they find out the information and the data you've shared with me today about how much food we actually waste, how do they usually react?

Dr. Parizeau: People often react with disbelief. These numbers are huge. They're hard to understand, and I think a big part of the cultural barrier for addressing food loss in waste is the invisibility of waste In our society. So often people are putting all kinds of waste into their, either their garbage bins or if they have an organics bin and then you put the lid down, you don't think about it.

In Canada, it's just, we think of it as dirty. We think of it as gross. We think of it as inevitable. We think of it as somebody else's responsibility. You know, a municipal service issue rather than an ethical consumption issue. And so for all of those reasons, a lot of us are just not aware of how much we're wasting or what we're wasting.

And we definitely don't see the food waste that's happening higher up in the food value chain, so it's so hard to wrap our heads around it.

Bri Huot: Absolutely. You know, we talked about, I can't remember if it was in the first episode or, or, or if we just chatted about it now, but we've talked about. You know, out of sight, out of mind, and how we're we're disconnected from our food, you know, back maybe a hundred years ago even, or even further than that, um, we were so connected to our food.

And I think that, uh, a great piece. I know at the City of Edmonton sometimes they do tours of their waste management center and, and connecting people with, Hey, this is where your waste goes. And I think if more people were able to connect with that, maybe it would be a starting point, um, for a larger conversation.

And for. Actionable solutions. And, and, and speaking of actionable solutions, what are some promising solutions, maybe structurally, maybe from a larger scale all the way down to household level, whether it's government, business or community groups? Do you have any favorites? Uh, any solutions that you think people, more people should be adopting?

Something that's interesting about waste in Canada is that it requires multi-level governance. So when we think particularly about food loss and waste, technically a lot of that sits with the provincial government. They have the mandate to do this management, but then a lot of that is devolved operationally to municipal governments.

So it's municipalities who end up paying for the trucks treks and making decisions about how that food loss and waste is process. And then also here we have this. Federal oversight perspective. In particular, when we're talking about things like greenhouse gas emissions, well that falls under environment and climate change Canada.

The same, uh, direction being given from all those different, uh, groups. In terms of some specifics, uh, some really interesting ideas are around things like infrastructure, uh, community kitchens, small, medium enterprises to process food, especially food that might potentially go to waste in a community where it could be prohibitively expensive or, you know, the

the amounts of food are too small to ship it out. Uh, creating some programming to use this infrastructure. Uh, impact Canada had a food loss and waste challenge a few years ago. Um, and there were some really interesting solutions that, that came out of that. And actually, one of them that was a finalist was the Circular Innovation Council, and we've done some research work with them where they're saying, okay,

And so Circular Innovation Council has been doing some really great work, a lot of it cooperatively with municipality and a lot of advocacy for policy change to support this kind of work. So I think those are the kinds of solutions that we need to see. We need to see grassroots in cooperation with lots of different stakeholders.

Another one that I really like, uh, finished recently here in the Guelph Wellington region, there was an initiative called Our Food Future, and it was a group of stakeholders, hundreds of stakeholders from economic sectors, social sectors, health. Environment coming together to build a circular food economy in the Guelph Wellington region.

So it's that spirit of cooperation and innovation and lots of little projects that people are willing to pitch in on, and where people are willing to build relationships and create a community of people who care about similar things, uh, who see these connections and are, are willing to put in the time and effort to make something grow together.

Dr. Parizeau: I think the first big thing that a lot of us can do is to just be willing to think about it a little bit more, to be looking for food loss and waste to notice if we have a green bin, what are we putting into that green bin, and why is there avoidable food? Things that could have been prevented, like we should be preventing food waste and then diverting it if we can.

And I think when people start to look for those things and they notice them even at the grocery store, or if they notice a bottle of a company saying that they're being really thoughtful. I'm thinking of like Luke juices around reducing food loss and waste and trying to support them. Those small individual actions can also help us to build more of a civic consciousness, because then those are the kinds of people who might say, oh, I'm willing to vote for a government that's putting forward

Bri Huot: And as a final question, what gives you hope when it comes to this issue and, and, and taking action against it?

Maybe not solving it, but trying to get as close as we can.

Dr. Parizeau: Honestly, it's the people who are thinking about this. So us having this conversation today, Bri, I think is really hopeful for me. I know you're talking with a lot of other amazing people working on this issue, and so feeling like there's a community of people who care, and again, who.

See those connections who say this is a bigger issue, it's environmental, social, economic, and it requires us to be together in community with one another. So I'm, I'm just so excited that that exists and I think it's important for us to continue to try to build it.

Bri Huot: Absolutely. And I hope that the people listening to this episode, uh, whatever day they're listening to it, whatever year they're listening to it, that it makes them stop and think about, okay.

And I'm so appreciative for you coming on the show to chat about this, you know, really challenging issue.

Dr. Parizeau: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really glad that we have a chance to keep talking about it.

Bri Huot: That's it for part two of my conversation with Dr. Kate Parizeau. From multi-level governance and infrastructure needs to community-based solutions and individual choices, tackling food waste clearly requires action at every level. And while the problem is big, what gives me hope and what gives Dr. Parizeau hope is the growing community of people who care.

If this conversation got you thinking, share it with a friend or coworker. It's one small way we can all help bring food waste out of the shadows.

To learn more about what we talked about in this episode, check out the show notes. The What on Earth can We Do? Podcast is a program of the Alberta Emerald Foundation, a registered charity focused on accelerating environmental excellence across Alberta. To learn more about the Alberta Emerald Foundation, head to our website, emerald foundation.ca, or follow us on social media @ Alberta Emerald.

A big thank you to our sponsors who make this podcast possible, the Government of Alberta, the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta Pathways Alliance, the City of Edmonton, the City of Calgary, and TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. See you next time.