Reducing food waste, one box at a time

Food waste is one of those quiet but huge problems: it’s bad for people, bad for farmers, and bad for the climate. Canada produces and trades enormous amounts of food, yet each year millions of tonnes of perfectly edible food don’t make it to people to eat. Add to that the rapidly rising cost of food to consumers, and you can see why reducing food waste is both a priority and an opportunity. Recently I came across an ad for a new food waste reduction venture called Odd Bunch. I decided to try it out and take a deeper look into what options we as consumers have to participate in food waste reduction.

Researchers and food-rescue organizations estimate that Canada generates millions of tonnes of surplus edible food every year (a commonly cited figure is around 3.2 million tonnes of surplus edible food), and a much larger amount if you count all avoidable loss and waste across the supply chain (often estimated in the order of ~10–11 million tonnes).

Despite this scale, only a small fraction of surplus edible food is currently rescued and redirected to people who need it. Second Harvest helps to divert edible food to non-profit charities like food banks. But even though they already manage and reclaim millions of pounds of food each year, they are only making a small dent in what could be diverted. This leaves an opening to find more homes for less than perfect produce.

This is the gap that Odd Bunch seems to be filling in. They source excess or rejected produce and sell it at a discount through a subscription box. I decided to test it out and ordered their two-people sized box. It came with an interesting assortment of perfectly good fruits and vegetables. There were staples like tomatoes, onions, apples and oranges, as well as more exotic finds I might not normally purchase, like pomelo fruit, eggplant, and beech mushrooms. In total, there were 16 different types of produce, which is a greater variety than I’d pick up on a weekly grocery run.

My kids devoured a mango as soon as we opened the box. The rest of it will take a little planning to use up. I recommend trying the service if you’re an adventurous eater and willing to learn how to cook new things. The subscription does allow you to make some substitutions, but with that much variety, you’re still going to encounter produce you might not otherwise buy. Price-wise, even with the small delivery fee, it’s still less than what you would pay to for the same items from a store.  

If you like the idea of Odd Bunch but don’t know if you’d like that format, you can still help reduce food waste, and your grocery bill, with other options:

1) Loblaws No Name brand ‘Naturally Imperfect’ produce line. Look for it in Superstore, Independent or No Frills stores. I recently tried out their naturally imperfect potatoes. Other than then being less expensive and having to buy a larger volume than normal, I honestly didn’t notice a difference.

2) Flash Food – an organization that facilitates the sale of close-to-date food in grocery stores. Download their app and it will show you participating grocery stores close to you. You can see what items are discounted and close-to-date at that store. Unlike Odd Bunch, it’s a wider variety of foods than just produce – it includes other perishables like meats and cheeses. I have gotten boxes of mixed produce and tried out some specialty sausages.

3) Food Hero – similar to Flash Food but works with a different network of grocery stores across the country. In Saskatchewan, they work with most of the Sobey’s locations.

4) Too Good To Go – also app-based but works with restaurants and bakeries as well as grocery stores. Their platform lets you see discounted food bundles ready for pick up. The platform is used by local businesses and large chains like Tim Hortons and 7-11 to sell pre-prepared food. It’s like the online version of the day-old section in a bakery – just for a wider variety of items.

All of these options combine saving money with saving food, so it really is a win-win. But it is a bit mind-boggling to think that all of these options I’ve just listed barely touch the total volume of what is being wasted.

Food-waste is a systems problem that needs systems solutions. Saskatchewan and Canada now have a growing toolbox — from rescue charities like Second Harvest to innovative start-ups like Odd Bunch, but it’s going to take all of the pieces scaling up and coordinating to turn that million-tonne opportunity into meals instead of methane. I challenge you to try out one of these services and join in the solution.