Building a Circular Food Rescue Supply Chain – Free Webinar
View the recording of the webinar:
Food waste is a serious environmental, social and economic issue. Yet Canadians waste over $20 billion worth of food annually with this valuable material going to landfills where it contributes to an escalating environmental crisis instead of on the tables of hungry families.
This webinar is an opportunity to engage stakeholders in the food rescue supply chain to explore the challenges and opportunities of change. The goal is to increase the efficiency of the food systems we operate to get more edible food to families, and non-consumable food to farmers for livestock, or to composting facilities – resulting in less waste sent to landfills.
Read the Final Report of the RCA’s Food Rescue Research Project
View a map of Food Rescue Organizations.
Moderator: Christina Seidel, Recycling Council of Alberta
Speakers:
- Jim Gordon, Recycling Council of Alberta
- Joanne Gauci, National Zero Waste Council and Metro Vancouver
- Rob Morphew, Calgary Co-operative Association Ltd.
- Mitch Thomson, Red Deer Food Bank
- Kruti Shah, RCA Research Team Lead
Jim Gordon is the Operations Manager at the Recycling Council of Alberta. He has a BA in Journalism and Communications from the University of Oregon and an Adult and Community Education Certificate from the University of Calgary. He has 30 years of experience building and managing programs that serve and support vulnerable populations including at-risk youth, persons with disabilities, and ill and injured veterans. He has also worked with First Nations Communities and Alberta elementary schools on environmental literacy programs and has seen the devastating results food insecurity has on individuals, communities and is passionate about the opportunity to collaborate with other organizations across Canada to reduce food insecurity.
Joanne Gauci is a sustainability professional with a Masters in Environmental Design and 20 years of progressive policy, engagement and planning experience at the local, regional and federal government level both within Canada and abroad. As a Senior Policy Advisor at Metro Vancouver, Joanne advances large scale collaborations and systems change to accelerate Canada’s transition to a circular economy. She provides Secretariat support to Canada’s National Zero Waste Council and is the Campaign Manager to Love Food Hate Waste Canada. In the last three years, Joanne has supported the Council’s participation in the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition and worked as part of collaborative teams to launch the Canada Plastics Pact and the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative.
Mitch Thomson was born and raised in Lethbridge. However, he has enjoyed living in Central Alberta for most of his adult life. Mitch is the Executive Director of the Red Deer Food Bank. He has held this position since May 2021. He is passionate about community and ensuring everyone has access to healthy food. Under Mitch’s leadership, the Red Deer Food Bank has set a goal of ensuring no edible food is wasted. They have also developed a commercial kitchen to extend available food utility and teach life and culinary skills.
Kruti Shah holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Development from the University of Calgary, where she is also now working as a Sustainability Data Analyst. Following her passion towards making food systems robust and resilient, Kruti completed her research in finding sustainable alternatives to price look up stickers for reducing plastic pollution in the environment, especially in composting and recycling streams. She has also been leading a project at the University to transition out of single-use plastic items through stakeholder engagement and consultation. Kruti has delivered environment and energy efficiency education to junior high and high school students in Calgary. She is currently involved in developing an ESG reporting course for undergraduate and graduate business students. Kruti was the RCA Research Team Lead on this project. Kruti loves animals and her dream is to live in the mountains.