Charity Rescues So Much Food From Landfill, It Opens a ‘Pay What You Feel’ Grocery Store To Share Tons of Produce

In Vancouver, a new supermarket is opening specifically to get unwanted food and products into the hands of people who need or want it, thus preventing it from being dumped in the landfill.

The Food Stash Foundation “Rescued food market”It opens its doors on October 1. Located at 340 West 2nd Avenue, for three hours every day, their surplus produce and food is available to anyone, whether they are food insecure, looking to reduce their environmental impact, or simply need to cut grocery costs, in a “Pay what you feel ”rather than“ what you can, ”making sure there is minimal moral impediment to getting food out the door and onto dinner tables in Vancouver.

Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own bags, but if it occurs to you, they offer reusable bags with a limit of one per person.

And getting it out the door is both the main challenge and the goal, as Food Stash Foundation executive Carla Pellegrini would explain to GNN, 58% of all food produced in Canada. becomes waste. the UN reports Household food waste in the Great White North is 20 kilograms more per capita than in the United States, competing with poorer nations who have limited access to refrigeration and have to deal with tropical heat and humidity.

“There is food waste at all levels [of the supply-chain], whether on orders, canceled orders, the shape of the product does not meet customer expectations or is approaching expiration dates, ”says Pellegrini, who took over as director last July.

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“I was very, very surprised by how much food waste there is, how food insecure there is in Vancouver.”

By any means necessary

the Food Stash Foundation collects food from wholesalers, grocers and farms, and delivers it to other organizations fighting food waste and food insecurity. There was a time when all the unwanted food that was left was put into boxes and delivered to food insecure families for a small price.

But hauling 70,000 pounds of food per month meant they needed more ways to dispose of it, hence the salvage food market.

“85% of those 70,000 pounds of food does not even return to our warehouse, it returns the same day with our drivers to other organizations,” says Pellegrini.

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“We even ended up with a surplus at the end of our weekly operations; after the organizations and the boxes, sometimes we still have surpluses, so we are interested in getting rid of that. “

In addition, a portion of British Columbia legislation relieves donors of the responsibility of the risk posed by donating food that has passed the expiration date and has encouraged more donations of packaged food as well, and not just farm produce.

Huge amounts of CO2 are generated around the world each year from food decomposing in landfills, and by rescuing it we are not just saving money, we are saving the planet.

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