Loblaw Furthers Food-Waste Reduction Efforts

Loblaw is committing an additional $1 million to onboard its banner stores onto Second Harvest's FoodRescue.ca platform, which helps eliminate food waste and support local communities. 

Loblaw and Second Harvest, Canada's largest food rescue organization, have been partners for 35 years. There are currently 156 Loblaw locations using the FoodRescue.ca platform in Ontario and British Columbia. To date, these stores have used the platform to donate enough surplus unsold food to provide more than 500,000 meals to their local communities, and in doing so have prevented the release of more than 2.8 million kilograms of greenhouse gases.

“Loblaw has committed to closing the gap between hunger and surplus food, with an aim to reduce or divert food waste in its stores,” said Tonya Lagrasta, senior director, corporate social responsibility at Loblaw. “We are proud to be deepening our relationship with Second Harvest and help scale FoodRescue.ca into new communities throughout Canada. As Canada’s largest food distributor, our stores are uniquely positioned so that, together, we can make a significant impact.”

To use the FoodRescue.ca platform, businesses simply register and outline how much and what type of food they have available, and local nonprofits receive email or text alerts about new donations in their area.

The tool is free to use by both food producers and nonprofit organizations, and is available as a mobile app.

“Loblaw has been a supporter of Second Harvest from the very beginning, and we are looking forward to this next exciting phase of our relationship. Together, we’re leading a food rescue revolution,” said Lori Nikkel, CEO of Toronto-based Second Harvest. “The need to recover surplus food and redistribute it to Canadians has never been more crucial, and FoodRescue.ca is the simple, scalable solution to prevent surplus food from becoming lost and wasted.”

Loblaw Cos. Ltd. operates 2,431 stores in Canada. The Brampton, Ontario-based company is No. 13 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.