8 ways Loblaw is fighting food waste

September 29 is the UN’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. In Canada alone, an estimated 60% of food produced– or 35.5 million tonnes – is lost and wasted annually.   

Loblaw Companies Ltd. takes fighting food waste seriously. We know we have a big part to play in this environmental, social, moral and economic problem. 

We are taking this opportunity to raise awareness about the practices and innovations we’re working on to reduce food loss and waste to build a more resilient food system.  

Here’s 8 ways we’re fighting food waste:  

1. Bakery Waste: Expired and damaged bakery items no longer fit for human consumption are converted into ingredients for animal feed. In 2021, through this program, we diverted more than 4.2 million kilograms of bakery food waste from grocery stores in Ontario and Nova Scotia to produce animal feed. 

2. ZooShare:  In 2021, we partnered with ZooShare Biogas Ltd., which combines used cooking oil and food no longer fit for human consumption with animal manure from the Toronto Zoo to produce biogas that generates renewable electricity fed directly into the grid. Through this program, our stores diverted 688,000 kilograms of residual material from disposal. 

3. Flashfood:  Through our partnership with Flashfood, we’ve been able to feed hundreds of thousands of families across the country more affordably while reducing our food waste. We’ve given our customers the chance to work with us to reduce food waste in partnership with Flashfood and the impact has been astounding. Flashfood is now live in over 600 of our stores and in 2021 alone we eliminated more than 8.1 million kilograms of potential food waste while saving customers money on their grocery bills 

4. Food to Farm: We have partnered with Loop Resource Ltd. to send food that is not fit for human consumption to farms where it is fed to animals. In 2021, approximately 100 participating stores nationwide sent 7.9 million kilograms of food to more than 1,000 farms. 

5. Food Banks & Food Recovery Agencies:  In a multi-year effort, we have matched hundreds of our stores with local food banks and food recovery agencies across Canada. This reduces perishable food going to landfill and provides people facing food insecurity with healthy meals. In 2021, we donated more than 5.5 million kilograms of food to these partners.  

6. Zero to Landfill: We have a goal to send zero food to landfill by 2030. 

7. Second Harvest: In 2020, we committed to invest $1 million to Second Harvest by 2025 to support the national development of the Second Harvest Food Rescue App, helping to make food more accessible to those in need. Since making our commitment, we have contributed $400,000 and to date 860 of our stores, including Shoppers Drug Mart^® have joined the program. 

8. 10x20x30: We encourage our suppliers to halve global food waste by 2030. In 2021, we reached out to our suppliers to encourage their participation.  

We are proud of our achievements so far – and know we have more work to do. 

Join us in raising awareness about Food Loss & Waste today.