THE GLOBE AND MAIL
How much in food do Canadians waste a year? Think billions
DAVE MCGINN, Published Monday, Oct. 01 2012,,a week before thanks giving!
While you gorge yourself this weekend on turkey with all the trimmings, it may be a good time to think about how much of it all will wind up in the trash. Because we throw away a disgusting amount of perfectly edible food – billions worth each year, in fact, according to a new study.
We waste approximately 40 per cent of our food, or $27-billion worth, according to the Value Chain Management Centre, an independent think tank based in Guelph, Ont. And just over half (51 per cent) of that gets tossed from households.Keep in mind, we’re not talking about the strawberries that have been sitting in your crisper so long they’ve got grey fuzz on them, or those tomatoes with the gross green splotches that stink. The report is talking about edible food that simply gets chucked. Why? Partly because we load our plates with giant portions we can never finish, partly because we throw out food based on best-before labels, even if we’re not reading them properly or the food is still good. But mostly we toss food because, unlike so many other places on earth, food is cheap to us.
