Elle is starting a social enterprise because of two local factors: Large numbers of low-income people in her urban neighbourhood, asking for change simply to be able to eat, and the knowledge that perfectly good food is being discarded by grocery stores. Elle wants to tie the two factors together by developing a way to get food that’s still edible to people who need food.
In fact, 40 percent of all food produced in Canada is thrown away: An estimated $27 billion of wasted food. Of this, 12 percent is thrown out by grocery stores. While this would include moldy bread, it also includes bananas that don’t have a perfect curve, a too-large order of hummus or jars of peanut butter in the old packaging.
At the same time, in Waterloo Region alone, more than 34,000 people use emergency food services.
Elle, a fourth-year Peace and Conflict Studies student, decided to study food supply challenges and to write her final paper on food waste and reducing the food that is discarded. In the course of writing her paper, she decided she would do something about it.
In January 2015, Elle became a GreenHouse innovator at St. Paul’s, developing a company called Food Not Waste. “Businesses want to reduce their waste, but it’s easier to simply throw food out. With Food Not Waste, I want to come up with a system that is equally easy for them not to throw food out.”
Not all food that is currently thrown out is fit for human consumption, but some of it is. Elle’s plan is to help organizations (such as public institutions, retailers, restaurants, and catering/hospitality service agencies) reduce their food waste and to deliver it to emergency food services. For the food that does not meet health standards, she says much of it can be used in the development of animal feed, while the rest can be diverted to compost – something that is sometimes done, but could be done better.
As the project develops (Elle hopes to be collecting food as soon as the spring), Food Not Waste will offer a “Food Waste Free” designation to participating retailers.
For now, Elle is relishing being part of the GreenHouse community, bouncing ideas off social entrepreneurship peers and meeting potential champions for her work in the wider community. “I can throw out crazy ideas, feel supported, and get honest ideas on how we can make this possible.”
- by Susan Fish