Whereasover 11.8 of BC households 485,500 British Columbians experience some level of food insecurity and about 3 of households 91,100 British Columbians experience severe food insecurity, leading tomore than 163,000 people in BC using a food bank in March of 2022 and the prediction that reliance on food banks and other food charities is expected to increase by 60 percent in BC in 2023, with the non-profit sector bearing the brunt of costs associated with collecting and delivering food that would otherwise be wasted to people in need; And whereas the National Zero Waste council calculates that 63 percent of all of the food Canadians throw away could have been eaten and, according to the Government of BC, about 40 percent of our produce ends up in a landfill, where it breaks down to produce significant greenhouse gases which climate scientists predict will accelerate global warming and greatly reduce food-production capacity: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the BC Government to: - Measure, monitor and make publicly available data on food waste in BC in order to inform and develop policies, guidelines and practices to reduce food waste; and - Support the non-profit sector involved in rescuing and distributing food as an essential interim measure to address food insecurity for vulnerable and equity-seeking populations until more sustainable public interventions address poverty and income insecurity, the primary drivers of food insecurity in BC; And be it further resolved that UBCM urge the BC Government to incorporate measures to reduce food wastage and over-packaging of produce, increase organic waste diversion, and promote the consumption of planet-friendly foods into its climate plan CleanBC.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy ENV places paramount importance on preventing food loss and waste while promoting food security, as food waste reduction falls on the highest tier of the pollution prevention hierarchy. As part of B.C.s commitment to promoting a circular economy for organics, the Province invested 150,000 between 2018 and 2021 in the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. Arising from Love Food Hate Waste, ENV developed a provincial partnership model, enabling local governments to access various communication materials and valuable resources to combat food waste. ENV oversees the Food Waste Provincial Partnership, extending resources to local governments across BC Accessible online toolkits have been crafted to assist everyone in preventing food waste, whether at home or in the workplace. The Province supports the non-profit sector by actively encouraging food donations from businesses through the Food Donor Encouragement Act. The Province, through the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, has also provided 1.3M in investments to help combat food security and promote food sovereignty under the Food Security Provincial Initiatives Fund. To prevent food and organic waste from ending up in landfills and generating harmful greenhouse gases, the Province has invested 55M towards 46 projects that collect and process food and organic waste into class A compost and are projected to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4Mt by 2030. URLs toolkits: https:www2.gov.bc.cagovcontentenvironmentwaste-managementfood-and-organ… Food Donor Encouragement Act: https:www.bclaws.gov.bc.cacivixdocumentidcompletestatreg009700801 Food Security Provincial Initiative Fund: https:news.gov.bc.careleases2023SDPR0060-001562