Food Friday

Facts & Stats

  • According to the updated report by Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International (October 2024):
    • Across Canada, nearly 46.5% of all food produced is wasted – that’s 21.18 million metric tonnes of food waste, nearly 41.7% of which is still edible – enough to feed more than 17 million people every year! This amounts to a staggering loss of $58 billion in value.
    • Canada’s food waste is equivalent to 25.7 million tonnes of CO2e annually.
    • When organic material is sent to landfill to decompose it releases methane into the atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and amongst the two largest waste streams found in landfills in Canada.  When composted food waste can turn into a valuable nutrient in compost it can then be applied to farming. When broken down in an anaerobic digester methane can be captured to produce renewable natural gas.
    • When edible food is redirected to food rescue organizations for distribution it maintains its highest value and security is improved for those that need it most: children’s breakfast programs, community centres, drop-in centres, and shelters.
  • In Canada, according to the updated report by Second Harvest and Value Chain Management International (October 2024), the most prominently wasted foods by weight and value are:
    • Field crops: 3.40 million tonnes, valued at $27.62 billion CAD
    • Produce: 3.39 million tonnes, valued at $12.56 billion CAD
    • Dairy: 1.29 million tonnes, valued at $11.02 billion CAD
    • Meat & Poultry: 0.38 million tonnes, valued at $4.93 billion CAD
    • Marine: 0.07 million tonnes, valued at $1.39 billion CAD
    • Sugars: 0.28 million tonnes, valued at $0.36 billion CAD
    • Eggs: 0.03 million tonnes, valued at $0.19 billion CAD
  • According to Love Food Hate Waste’s analysis of 2022 data, every day in Canada, we waste:
    • 130,000 heads of lettuce,
    • 1,300,000 tomatoes,
    • 2,600,000 potatoes,
    • 650,000 loaves of bread,
    • 1,300,000 apples,
    • 640,000 bananas,
    • 1,000,000 cups of milk
    • 470,000 eggs
  • One-fifth, or 19%, of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted every year. That’s one billion meals a day wasted, due in large part to household food waste practices. That’s a global loss of roughly CAD $1.35 trillion.
  • Globally, if food waste could be represented as its own country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the U.S.
  • The resources needed to produce the food that becomes lost or wasted has a carbon footprint of about 3.3 billion tons of CO2.