This document discusses food waste in Canada and how it affects everyone. It estimates that the average Canadian household wastes about 1/4 of their groceries each year. It then tells a story about 100 apples to illustrate where food is wasted - 20 apples lost on the farm, 3 at post-harvest sorting, 1 during processing, 12 at the grocery store due to imperfections, and 28 at homes due to overbuying or uneaten leftovers. In total, 36% or 36 apples were wasted, equating to 32 bathtubs or 2,240 litres of wasted water used to grow them. The document encourages readers to take steps to reduce food waste such as proper food storage and finishing leftovers.

1. FOOD WASTE
Part 2:
How Food Waste affects EVERYONE

2. How big is the
food waste problem
in Canada?

3. How much food do
we waste in
Canada?
Imagine throwing out
¼ of your groceries!
That’s what happens
each year in an
average Canadian
household.

5. Let’s take a closer look at
what happens when we
waste food . . .

6. The Extraordinary Life and Times of Strawberries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKQPL16WjHs

7. When we waste food,
what else is wasted?

8. Money
Land

9. Fuel

10. Time
Water
Electricity

11. When we waste food,
we waste water.
Let’s take a closer look
at how that can happen.

12. It takes 70 litres of water to
grow ONE apple.
It takes a full bathtub of water
to grow just TWO apples.
1 bathtub = approximately 140
litres of water

13. Apples: Lost and Wasted

14. Once upon a time, 100 happy apples lived in an
orchard.
One day, those apples were picked and put on a truck.
Sadly, only 80 of the 100 apples made it onto the truck
from the orchard. Twenty apples were left in the orchard
to rot.
(Remove 20 “apples.”)
How many tubfuls of water were wasted?
10

15. Why were 20 apples lost?
It is hard for farmers to grow just the right
amount of food needed; sometimes they
grow too much and no one wants it.
Maybe the grocery store did not need all
of the ripe apples that were available.
Maybe there were not enough apple
pickers available to harvest the apples.
And maybe the apples did not look “good
enough to eat” because they were two
small or funny looking, or had worm holes
and insect bites.

16. Post-harvest
Next, the 80 remaining apples arrived at the post-harvest station where they
were cleaned and sorted.
Three more apples were lost because they didn’t look “good enough to eat.”
They were the wrong size, shape or colour, or had too many bruises.
(Remove 3 “apples.”)
How many tubfuls of water were wasted?
1 ½

17. At the Processing and Packaging Plant
Some bruises, stems and cores were removed from some apples so that they
could be included in fruit trays and apple cider.
Only 1 apple was lost at this station.
(Remove 1 “apple.”)
How many tubfuls of water were wasted? 1/2

18. At the Grocery Store
The apples looked “perfect.” But, people didn’t buy all the fresh apples at
the same time. And the grocer had ordered too many.
After a while, some of the apples started to look dull. Their colour
changed. Their bruises began showing.
People did not buy these apples because they
didn’t look “perfect.”
Twelve apples didn’t sell, and the grocer
threw them out.
(Remove 12 “apples.”)
How many tubfuls of water were wasted?
6

19. In Homes
People looked forward to eating the apples that they
had bought.
However, 28 apples were wasted.
Why?
Maybe too many apples were bought and weren’t
stored properly, so some didn’t get eaten for a long
time. They began to look “ugly,” and were thrown
out.
Maybe people were too full to
finish eating their apples after
taking only a few bites, then
tossed them in the garbage.
(Remove 28 “apples.”)
How many tubfuls of
water were wasted?
14

20. How many of the 100 apples were lost or wasted?
36 or 36 %
How much water was wasted?
32 tubfuls or
2,240 litres
Where were the most apples wasted?
In people’s homes

22. Not a happy ending, is it!
Apples that go into the garbage end up in a landfill. They
break down and produce greenhouse gases that cause
Earth to grow hotter and hotter.
Here’s how greenhouse gases affect Earth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv7OHfpIRfU

23. WE can help reduce
food waste.
How?

24. Keep it fresh
We can reduce our food
waste by keeping food
fresher longer using proper
storage techniques.

25. We can keep different foods fresh
longer if we store them properly
in the fridge or the freezer or on the counter.

26. Apples
fridge (unwashed)
Part of an apple
fridge (lemon juice,
wrapped)
Bananas
counter
Fresh vegetables
fridge
Frozen vegetables
freezer
Where would you store these foods?

27. Where would you store these foods?
Lettuce
fridge (ziplock bag)
Fresh tomatoes
counter
Bread
counter,
fridge or freezer
Honey
counter
Eggs
fridge

28. By the way, food scientists are helping
reduce food waste.
They have developed an apple that
DOESN’T TURN BROWN!
The Arctic Apple!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-BqBZmVd0

29. How can WE help reduce food waste in
Canada?
A Canadian organization called The
National Zero Waste Council is focusing
on this problem.
Their 2030 goal is to cut in half the
amount of food wasted in Canada.

30. YOU can help them achieve that goal!
Take the
FOOD WASTE PLEDGE!

31. FOOD WASTE PLEDGE
I pledge to:
Take what I will eat and eat what I take for meals and snacks!
Help pack my own lunch so I don’t end up with things I won’t eat.
Eat fruits and vegetables that aren’t “perfect.”
Love leftover food!
Learn about where my food comes from.