Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is calling for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing food loss and waste is one important action we can take. When food waste is sent to landfill, it decomposes to methane, which is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. In addition, food waste represents a tremendous loss of the energy, land, water and labour used to produce the food. An incredible 58 per cent of all food produced in Canada is either lost or wasted. 

The first proposed strategy, reduce the amount of food that is wasted, most of which originates in food processing, production and manufacturing. The second proposed strategy is to enhance the donation of surplus food to feed hungry people. This strategy appears to be a simple “no-brainer,” as demonstrated by the more than 233,000 Canadians. Canadians believe it to be morally wrong to waste edible food, especially when some Canadians are hungry.