Attention charities and farmers: Please review the holiday schedule for the store(s) you pick up donations from. Details have been emailed to you.
Attention charities and farmers: Please review the holiday schedule for the store(s) you pick up donations from. Details have been emailed to you.
 

Metro Vancouver
Regional Food Recovery Network
Project Update (Year 2)

Metro Vancouver logo

Metro Vancouver is supporting FoodMesh to build a food recovery network of local businesses, charitable organizations and farmers.

Through FoodMesh’s programs and services, organizations in the network that have surplus food are quickly and efficiently matched to other organizations that can put the food to good use so that it doesn’t end up going to waste, feeding people first, then animals.

Choices Market staff in Kelowna pictured with food donations.
Team with donations
We welcome hobby farmers to our network, to rescue food that is no longer suitable for human consumption

“We are incredibly proud to be partnering with FoodMesh. At Choices, we firmly believe in cultivating win-win relationships, and this collaboration with FoodMesh is a shining example of that. Thanks to this partnership, all ten Choices locations are diverting 100 per cent of their unsalable edible food away from landfills, benefitting people in need in our community as well as the environment. We are excited about the positive impact we can make together.”

– Jon Janower, Chief Operating Officer, Choices Markets

What the Metro Vancouver Regional Food Recovery Network has achieved to date

1 September 2021 – 31 August 2023

Note: This does not include food that is recovered in the region outside of FoodMesh’s programs and services

810

Network members

7,744,857

Food diverted (KG)

13,137,928

Meals created

19,981,730

CO2e reduced (KG)

Progress made against the project’s goals

KPIs from Metro Van project year 2

“Demand for our programs is at an all-time high. We are always looking for more food donors who want to divert their good, surplus food out to the community instead of letting it go to waste. This partnership between FoodMesh and Choices Markets has helped us be able to keep up with demand. We now serve seven new non-profit organizations with weekly donations of good food to serve their community, and we are looking forward to growing our programming soon as well.”

– Carla Pellegrini, Executive Director of Food Stash Foundation

The network

“I can’t thank Fresh St. Market enough for their food donations. It’s doing such good in our community.”

– Gary Sugrim, Varad Ashram Inter-Cultural Service Humanitarian World Association (VISHWA)

Highlights from the last year

Upcycler showcase at Grocery & Speciality Food West 2023

Upcyclers posing with their products.

The signature event for this year was an upcycler showcase at the 2023 Grocery & Specialty Food West – the biggest trade show for grocery retailers in western Canada.

Thanks to Metro Vancouver’s support, FoodMesh sponsored five BC-based upcyclers to showcase their products with 3000+ buyers and influencers from the grocery industry, in a bid to help them grow their business and increase their ability to repurpose food otherwise destined for waste streams.

As a direct result of the Upcycler Showcase, in the month following the event, 3 of the 5 participating upcyclers reported initial sales totaling $5,803, with all five upcyclers having leads for additional sales in the pipeline. This equates to 602 KG of food waste prevented.

Webinar: Meet 5 BC solution providers that can help you put your unsold food and organics to good use

We teamed up with the BC Food and Beverage Association to share some ideas for different ways food manufacturers and processors in Metro Vancouver can keep their surplus food out of waste streams. Featuring presentations by:

Chris Thompson
ReFeed Farms and Waste Collection

Christine Couvelier
Trendi

Arielle Lok
Peko Produce

Michelle Reining
Vancouver Food Runners

Upcycler spotlight

To elevate the businesses in Metro Vancouver that are finding financially viable models for repurposing food destined for waste streams, we ran a spotlight series on our blog on innovative ways they are using surplus food so that it doesn’t go to waste, featuring:

Resources for restaurants to help them reduce their food waste

To coincide with DineOut Vancouver, FoodMesh composed a blog post with tips on how restaurants can save food from going to waste. We collaborated with Destination Vancouver to include this blog post in the eNewsletter that is sent to Destination Vancouver members as well as in the Dine Out newsletter to all restaurants participating in the food festival.

Highlighting some Metro Vancouver food recovery network members