B.C. company pitches ‘industrial scale’ solution to food waste

A B.C. company says it has the solution to major waste in the food system, but that it needs investors to scale up and stay profitable.

A British Columbia company says it’s developed a system to minimize food waste on an industrial scale — but that without investors or provincial support, the model won’t work.

ReFeed founder Sturart Lilley told Global News his facility processes more than 5 million killograms of food every year that would have been destined for landfills.

“This is food that would otherwise be wasted. So produce, we bring it in here, we rescue it for people first,” he said.

“What’s left over we use as livestock feed and supply that to local farmers.”

Lilley estimates about 10 per cent of what comes through the facility can be rescued for human consumption, and is distributed through partners like the Metro Vancouver Food Bank.

“We’re a true zero-waste facility,” he said.

More than 50 million tonnes of food waste are produced every year in Canada. Metro Vancouver estimates 13,000 tonnes of edible, healthy food is thrown out every year in the region.

Lilley said up to 40 per cent of that waste is created before the food ever makes it to the grocery store.