Calgary businesses are invited to participate in a new pilot program to reclaim edible food their property users have cast away. The not-for-profit Leftovers Foundation and the waste handling contractor Bluplanet Recycling will work with the City of Calgary to implement the program, which has previously been successfully tested in Ontario in the city of Guelph and its surrounding Wellington County.

Working together and providing a larger economy of scale for participating businesses, the three partners expect to reduce the costs of food recovery and organics recycling programs. The Circular Innovation Council — a national not-for-profit organization with a 40-year track record of programming and public awareness campaigns related to the 3Rs and resource conservation — devised the approach, which recently received an international award for results achieved in Guelph/Wellington County.

The program offers a platform for cooperative cost-sharing, and is also a finalist in the Canadian government’s Food Waste Reduction Challenge. The two service providers will ensure that edible food can be redirected to where it will be consumed and other organic waste is appropriately collected and recycled, while participating businesses realize reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“We know that affordability is one of the barriers limiting business and organization organics diversion,” acknowledges Kayley Fesko, a waste diversion specialist with the City of Calgary. “This pilot has shown promising results in other jurisdictions. We are excited to be able to invite businesses and institutions in Calgary to get involved.”

“We look forward to testing the transferability of the pilot model in Calgary and hope this leadership inspires similar expansions in other jurisdictions across Canada,” says Jo-Anne St. Godard, executive director of the Circular Innovation Council.