Interviews

203

Leftovers Calgary

“So I think the most effective way to curve food waste, is two-fold, I think that people can make the change in their own homes. 47% of food waste happens in our own homes, so, if we’re more cognizant about our food waste, for only buying what we need and if we are cooking what we need, I think that that can make a huge difference. But I also think from a policy level, municipal, provincial or federal we can really start to look at best practices, in France and Germany and in the UK,  where they have policies where grocery stores aren’t allowed to  waste their food, they have to donate it. And I think if we start looking at this precedent that is already set for us, we can start looking at best practices for Calgary and for Canada so that we aren’t wasting food at the retail level and we are donating it.”

“Yes, I think Calgarians realize how much food is being wasted. I think that, you know food waste happens at every single level. So it happens at farms, during transport, at the retail level, and then in our own homes. And so, Calgarians if they’re sort of part of this system they know that food waste occurs at all of these levels there’s this you know, very wide spectrum of where we’re wasting food. And it’s very visible, we can see it. So,  I believe Calgarians know how much we’re wasting. But I think a lot of us don’t know what to do with it. It’s easier to throw it out and/or compost it, so if we could start to make these sort of shifts in our thinking, we can really start to work on curbing food waste. ”

Calgary Food Bank

“So I think, it would depend on how the bylaw was actually structured. So one of the concerns we would have is that if the bylaws structure just to eliminate waste. So if it punishes people for, putting waste in the landfill or not diverting waste, that we would end up getting a lot of unsuitable donations. So that would be product that either been opened or product that was well past it’s best before or product that was spoiled. So one of the things we would like to see is more of a more of a reward system where if people are bringing suitable donations that they’re diverting from ways that we would be able to give them, some type of tax receipt or some sort of measure where they would actually benefit in that way as opposed to having a penalty on waste itself.”

“Again, I think it’s, it’s about incentivizing people to do the right thing. So it’s kind of like a where you nudge people as opposed to putting maybe a bylaw in place which is very restrictive than like for example, if you say you can’t dump your garbage here, people will find a spot to dump it and then other people have to clean it up. I believe that if, if there was a quote unquote reward for people to do the right thing, that they’re more likely to do that. So that would be perhaps a tax incentive for an extra tax incentive for individuals but also for corporations instead of fining them for throwing food in the garbage.”

The Coup

“I do think that the best way to get people to do things is to just put the policies..make the policies people will follow. It kind of shows as well with the most recent composting program that’s come up and forcing businesses and buildings to recycle and compost and it seems like it’s been an easy transition for people. Once they know they have to do something they’ll do it.”

“Great idea. I think, grocery stores throw a lot a way. Restaurants throw a lot away. I think it kind of goes back to the question before hand on just putting policies in place. I mean there’s no harm in trying those things out either and seeing how they work.  I feel like we’ve come a long way. Initially I remember a long time ago and don’t quote me on this, but I believe that restaurants, fast food places had to lock their garbage bins. They wouldn’t let people go in and kind of take things and for liability issues. I just think we’ve kind of relaxed things…I don’t know where I’m going with this, but just basically trying different ideas out and following people.. especially in Europe I feel like they’re a little bit more advanced. And just trying out different ways to try and feed the number of people goes a long way.”

Sinnott’s Independent Grocer

“The transition has been actually really easy, uh, instead of just throwing it in the compactor we set it into banana boxes and we might have to stage it in a cooler for overnight and then the next day someone comes along and picks it up and we are maybe adding 5 minutes to the whole process.”

“We wanted to stop wasting food because you never like something to get thrown down the compactor and just get wasted, uh, we hate waste and once we found a way to donate the food and the liability issue was taken care of we thought why not do this it is a win win situation for the store and the community.”

Green Calgary

“I mean if you look at the industrial revolution for how our city really adapted from a Western civilization of men on horses and sort of the western frontier. And we’ve grown into a business center a commercial center for institutions for companies. And when you look at the economic depressions that are seeing this face and we’ve always come out on top of natural disasters like ice storms. These are all challenges for our city and for citizens and sometimes every isn’t a matter of three or four days of cleanup. It’s a year long process and that’s how we’re overcoming our addiction to food waste is going to be overcome.”

“When we look at the question of rebate vs. law and regulation we’ve seen with the coffee cup companies who give you 10 cents off your coffee, if you bring your own cup get a rebate doesn’t really work all that well. We need to have a law. We need to have a regulation or you need to have a penalty bill. Imagine place that somewhere like Ireland which has very strict waste laws around plastic bags and general landfill waste where you are billed for the waste that you create that’s led to a 92 per cent reduction in some of their waste. That’s a prohibition that’s a regulation that’s a levy. Those are things that people understand very quickly and they’re the fastest ways to change.”

“I think the French model of how the old waste which real in grocery stores and restaurants is the right order. And it’s something that should be adopted in Calgary right across Canada and North America. This is a system that really recognizes the need for food in society. I would love to see that program rolled out here today. I think that Calgary has a very young population that’s becoming very engaged with our environment it’s seen is a major issue for. I think you can see great reception for a program that regulated waste if it were brought forward City council.”