Food Isn't Garbage

Everyday Food Choices Make a Big Impact

In Canada, 46.5% of all food is wasted each year, that’s over 21 million metric tonnes of food. Nearly half of this waste happens at home. While composting is a better option than sending food to the landfill, the best way to reduce waste is to prevent food from being wasted in the first place.

Why Does This Matter?

• 63% of food waste in Canada is food that could have been eaten
• Food waste isn’t just about what we throw away, it affects our wallets, communities, and the environment.
• Wasting food costs Canadian households an estimated $58 billion every year.
• Globally, food waste is responsible for 8-10% of greenhouse gas emissions.

When food is no longer edible, composting is the right choice, it keeps food out of the landfill, reduces methane emissions, and enriches the soil. Before food reaches the green cart, there are ways to make the most of it.

Simple Ways to Reduce Food Waste at Home

Food waste isn’t always intentional, it often happens because we forget what we have, buy too much, or don’t store food properly. Here are some simple ways to make the most of your groceries:

1. Store Food Properly

Keeping food fresh longer means less waste! Here are a few tips:

• Keep vegetables crisp: Store leafy greens in a container with a dry paper towel to absorb moisture.
• Freeze what you won’t use in time: Milk, bread, herbs, and even cheese can be frozen for later.
• Separate ethylene-producing fruits (like apples and bananas) from others to prevent them from ripening too fast.

2. Plan Your Meals with What You Already Have

• Before shopping, check your fridge and pantry to see what needs to be used up.
• Write a meal plan around ingredients you already have.
• Store leftovers at eye level in the fridge so they don’t get forgotten

3. Use Every Part of Your Food

• Revive wilted greens by soaking them in cold water.
• Store carrots in water to keep them crunchy.
• Turn stale bread into croutons, breadcrumbs, or French toast.
• Save vegetable scraps in your freezer to turn into broth

4. Research Best Before, Use By, and Sell by Dates

4. Understand Best-Before Dates

Best-before dates don’t mean food is bad, they refer to peak freshness, not safety. 

Frequently Ask Questions About Food Waste

Why can't food go to the landfill? 

The conditions food breaks down in are very important. When organic material is buried alongside other waste in a landfill, it does not have access to oxygen as it breaks down. This process is called anaerobic digestion, and the microorganisms involved in this process emit methane – a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide 

Where does moldy or expired food go?

All food waste must go in the green cart. Shells, bones, expired food, candy, chocolate, and snacks. ALL food belongs in the green cart. 

Why aren't biodegradable bags accepted?

HRM’s program for organics processing is a cart-based system, not designed for plastic bags. "Compostable" bags web around equipment in the plant and do not break down in the compost process.  Plastic is a contaminant; it will remain in the end-product.  We recommend residents use boxboard or paper to line the kitchen bin to deposit wet food waste into the green cart.

Why can’t we compost coffee pods labelled “compostable”?

Large scale commercial compost processes allow approximately 30-days for material to decompose. Pods labelled ‘compostable’ do not break down in this timeframe, resulting in significant plastic contamination.

Since pods mostly all look alike, staff and the public are not able to differentiate which are compostable which are not. Coffee pods are an example of a single use product and is not in alignment with the waste hierarchy which promotes reduce, reuse and recycling, in that order. 

Why is bathroom waste, such as paper towel, not permitted in the organic stream?

Tissues are disposed in the garbage as a safety precaution to limit the risk of disease transmission. There is also a general negative perception of compost made with material that has been in contact with bodily fluids (mucus, saliva).

The issue with paper towel (or any material) coming from the washrooms is that it often contains contaminates such as soap residue and bodily fluids (including blood). Since the compost is used for landscaping and even on vegetation for human consumption, it’s important that the organic stream is regulated carefully, and in a public washroom it isn’t feasible that sorting would be adhered to strictly enough to limit these contaminates.

Keeping bathroom waste to one stream (garbage) also avoids the need for multistream waste sorting in the bathroom. One bin for all bathroom waste reduces the chances of sorting those materials incorrectly, and helps to keep bodily fluids out of the organics stream. 

Where does old cooking oil go?

Old liquid cooking oil – Small quantities in the green cart. Use a couple sheets of newspaper, boxboard or other soiled paper to soak up the oil.

What type of biodegradable takeout containers can go into the green cart?

If the container is made out of paper, and doesn't have a waxy liner it can be composted with other food.