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Second Harvest Presentation on Food Waste
January 21, 2025 | Impact Net Zero

Image by Devon Breen from Pixabay
On January 20 in Toronto, Impact Net Zero co-hosted a presentation on food waste with Green Neighbours Network of Toronto, and Eglinton Lawrence Climate Action. The speaker was Mike Layton from Second Harvest.
What is Second Harvest?
Second Harvest is Canada’s largest food rescue organization, and works with food producers and retailers to redirect surplus food to non-profit organizations, helping to feed communities across the country. It accomplishes this by matching businesses with non-profits, providing food transportation logistics and training for food safety.
Mike Layton is its Vice President of Philanthropy, Corporate & Community Partners. He was previously Chief Sustainability Officer at York University, and a Toronto City Councillor.
Here are some facts Mike shared
- 46.5% of food produced for Canadians is wasted, accounting for 21.2 million tonnes and $58 billion per year.
- Avoidable food waste would feed 17 million people for a year.
- Best before dates are different from expiry dates, are voluntary on the part of businesses, and are not reflections of food safety.
- Only five products are required to have expiry dates, after which they should not be consumed:
- Baby formula;
- Meal replacements/supplement bars;
- Meal supplement drinks;
- Formulated liquid diets (requires prescription);
- Foods for very low-energy diets (requires prescription).
Takeaway
The statistics on the amount of food that is produced but not eaten in Canada were very sobering, especially given the current cost of living situation. Hopefully Second Harvest’s work will encourage each of us to do what we can to reduce food waste.
Learn more
Second Harvest has original research on its website about food waste.
Here at Impact Net Zero, we have articles on food waste and climate change, household food waste in Canada, and apps to manage household waste.

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