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Reduce your food waste to save money, boost health and reduce CO2 emissions

Molly Gallant

Sep 25, 2019
4 min

Reduce your food waste to save money, boost health and reduce CO2 emissions

This article was originally posted on The Conversation Canada and was written by Kathryn Walton and Molly Gallant. Food waste is costly — and not just dollars and cents. Food waste also has significant environmental and health implications. Some estimates suggest that up to 50 per cent of food waste in Canada is generated at the household level. So what does this mean for an individual family? To answer this question our team of researchers from the University of Guelph inves

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Shaping the Canadian food waste conversation

Molly Gallant

Sep 6, 2019
3 min

Shaping the Canadian food waste conversation

This blog post discusses our team's recently published peer-reviewed article. For the full article, please visit this page. As we have discussed in previous blog posts, food waste is now recognized around the world as a pressing environmental, social and economic issue. Although food waste occurs at all stages of food production and consumption, some estimates suggest that up to 50% of food waste in Canada is generated at the household-level. As awareness around food waste gr

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Trash Talk Post 4: ‘Nudging’ Food Waste Reduction

Molly Gallant

Aug 22, 2019
5 min

Trash Talk Post 4: ‘Nudging’ Food Waste Reduction

Can simple nudges, expertly positioned in our environment, reduce household food waste?

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Trash Talk Post 3: Technology to reduce household food waste

Molly Gallant

Aug 6, 2019
4 min

Trash Talk Post 3: Technology to reduce household food waste

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) or Human Machine Interface (HMI) is a growing area of research that has begun addressing issues related to ecological sustainability. Given the environmental impacts of food waste, some researchers have begun developing technologies that seek to reduce household food waste generation. From fridge cameras to “smart” bins, a new era of food waste technology is emerging. However, prior to being implemented on a large-scale, it is important to ass

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Trash Talk: Post 2 - Elements of successful interventions

Molly Gallant

Jul 25, 2019
4 min

Trash Talk: Post 2 - Elements of successful interventions

Once the drivers of household food waste are better understood (see last week’s blog post for more on this), it is time to consider the design and implementation of interventions. Both practitioners and academics around the world have begun tackling this difficult task. From awareness-raising efforts to the installation of fridge camera technologies, researchers are creatively designing and testing methods to reduce household food waste. Before diving into the details of thes

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Trash Talk: Post 1 - Understanding household food waste

Molly Gallant

Jul 16, 2019
5 min

Trash Talk: Post 1 - Understanding household food waste

Trash Talk: A Mini Series on Household Food Waste Overview Food waste is now recognized around the world as a pressing environmental, social and economic issue. Although food waste occurs at all stages of food production and consumption, some estimates suggest that up to 50% of food waste in Canada is generated at the household-level. The significance of this issue has resulted in food waste being a focus for regulation, interventions, policy, and awareness-raising efforts in

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Mark Wickson

Apr 18, 2019
6 min

Meal Kits with Mark, Part 1

Meal kits aren’t exactly a new food trend in Canada, but with some relatively recent industry shakeups like HelloFresh Canada buying Chef’s Plate and Metro partnering with Miss Fresh, consumers and foodies are keeping a close watch to see what new offerings come to our plates. If you don’t know anything about meal kits – don’t worry – I was in your shoes about a month ago. A meal kit is a box that comes with the basic ingredients and instructions to make a meal. They are mark

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The fight against food waste should take place in the kitchen

Molly Gallant

Mar 25, 2019
4 min

The fight against food waste should take place in the kitchen

Growing concerns about the environmental, economic and social impacts of food waste have resulted in this topic making headlines almost daily. Although there remains significant discussion, some estimates suggest that here in Canada, we waste $31 billion worth of food annually with about 50% of that waste being attributed to the household. With food more abundantly available and convenience taking priority, evidence suggests that food waste is a contemporary problem. Looking

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Data decisions and researching food waste

Molly Gallant

Mar 18, 2019
3 min

Data decisions and researching food waste

We are hearing more and more about food waste in the news. New and often contradictory estimates are regularly presented regarding the social, economic and environmental impacts of food waste. When interpreting these results, there are a couple of important things to keep in mind. Households in particular have been shown to be responsible for up to 50% of total food waste generation in Canada. In this post, we're discussing some of the different methods commonly seen in the l

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The connection between food literacy and food waste

Molly Gallant

Jan 25, 2019
3 min

The connection between food literacy and food waste

Two contemporary problems relating to food that we face today include rising obesity rates, encouraged by unhealthy eating habits, and staggering levels of food waste. Is it possible that the two are connected? In this post I discuss the potential connection between food waste and food literacy, referencing some of the available academic literature on these topics throughout. First and foremost, what exactly is food literacy? Although an exact and commonly agreed upon definit

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RELATED PROJECTS

Considering the complexity of food, it is no surprise that conversations about it can be broad and diverse. In order to better understand how people think about food, Mike is involved in several projects. Learn more about each project below.

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANT PROJECT

Our team is a group of students, faculty and community partners that are committed to working towards a more sustainable future for the restaurant industry. Every year we hold a forum, bringing prominent speakers to the University of Guelph to discuss issues in the Canadian Restaurant Industry.

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Keep up with the conversation here.

RELATED PROJECTS

Considering the complexity of food, it is no surprise that conversations about it can be broad and diverse. In order to better understand how people think about food, Mike is involved in several projects. Learn more about each project below.

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANT PROJECT