ecoCaledon and Caledon Chamber of Commerce host “Food for Thought” for Caledon Businesses

“Small changes by many businesses create a massive impact for Caledon”

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In an attempt to spur thought on sustainability and eco-consciousness in local businesses, ecoCaledon hosted an event in conjunction with the Caledon Chamber of Commerce recently, educating local businesses on sustainability guides with easy, day-to-day changes.

With April being Earth Month, it seemed like the perfect chance to try some of these out.

The idea came from ecoCaledon's Gratitude for Food Subcommittee, which has been working on food-related climate solutions for more than five years.

Lucrezia Chiappetta, co-chair of ecoCalendon, explained they have been reaching out to Caledon businesses in the past to discuss food surplus donation, and when they joined the Caledon Chamber of Commerce, it became a conversation of what ecoCaledon could offer to some of the other businesses that are members of the Chamber.

Having worked on food-related solutions for a while now, Chiappetta said it was a great opportunity to share easy tips.

“We want to reach as many Caledon residents as possible, and we're hearing from Caledon residents that these issues are important to them, these are the restaurants and businesses that they shop at, and we wanted to bring that information to these businesses,” explained Chiappetta. “These businesses are busy when you go in, it's hard to talk to them while they're working, so this was an opportunity for us to be able to help these businesses.”

Chiappetta led the presentation, first educating on the current dilemmas surrounding food waste and plastic use.

She shared that not only are approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost or wasted annually, but many “eco-friendly” or sustainable solutions are not eco-conscious at all, harming both businesses and the environment.

Many containers or cups market themselves as recyclable, but an interior wax coating renders them non-recyclable, turning the product into waste unbeknownst to business owners trying to source sustainable packaging.

A concept known as “greenwashing,” Chiappetta explained, is the marketing tactic of portraying a product as more environmentally friendly than it actually is, thereby making it harder to find cost-effective, durable alternatives.

“You may be paying extra for something you think is good,” said Chiappetta, explaining that many of these products don't actually make it into green or blue bins.

She also added that a minuscule percentage of what goes into blue bins actually gets recycled.

Another challenge, expressed by businesses in attendance, is that without support from the Region, if a business wished to compost, they would have to pay for that collection out of pocket.

“I'm a salmon going up stream in this fight,” said one business representative in attendance. “I hate seeing all the waste.”

Other businesses in attendance agreed, expressing their frustration with all waste going into one bin, unless they want to take on the extra cost of acquiring extra bins.

Even then, many of them shared landlord restrictions on bin quantities, making this option impossible.

ecoCaledon offered many small changes businesses can make that, over time, create a larger impact.

One of which is the “BYO” (Bring Your Own) movement, in which businesses can advertise that they will accept patrons' own containers and cups for their products and goods.

Through this movement, business owners can normalize the use of reusables and even offer an “eco-discount” to customers who bring their own containers.

Chiappetta explained that every day single-use items are designed to be used and thrown out, ending up in our waterways and landfills and creating a growing waste management crisis.

Also, single-use items are commonly littered, and especially when covered in food and grease, cannot be recycled.

One option, she said, to fight single-use is returnable, reusable containers.

This can be offered through companies such as Friendlier, which offer reusable food and beverage packaging.

Packaging ordered through Friendlier will even be delivered, cleaned, and picked up by the company itself.

Breakfast served that morning was done so in Friendlier packaging, filled with Caledon Meals on Wheels food.

After the event, the containers were be picked up, sanitized, and ready to go for the next customer, eliminating single-use plastic.

During the presentation, ecoCaledon also provided tips to reduce food waste, a problem that not only affects the environment but also puts pressure on businesses and raises costs.

Tips such as “auditing your bin” to ensure you know what you have to use, implementing root-to-stem cooking to maximize the yield of everything you buy, using the first-in-first-out rule, and creating daily specials to use up excess.

Other options included selling or donating surplus food at the end of the day.

Chiappetta explained that many businesses shy away from donating leftover food due to liability concerns, but that under the Donation of Food Act, 1994, donors are protected and not liable as long as the food is fit for donation.

In other words, it's not giving away trash, but about “redirecting surplus quality.”

Businesses should sell or donate items that were made fresh but didn't sell, or items that were mispicked or overstocked, they say.

These donations or sales can be made through a variety of apps, including Too Good to Go, Flash Food, Second Harvest, and Food Hero.

After the presentation, Chiappetta said there was clearly a desire among the businesses in attendance to implement some of these eco-conscious alternatives, and, in turn, ecoCaledon learned about many of the struggles businesses face when trying to do so.

“The desire is definitely there to be more environmentally friendly, to be more sustainable. It was great for us because now we can work from that. We're going to try to figure out ways that we can help them so that they can do these things that they would really like to do, definitely a collaboration.”