Zero Waste for Businesses (May, 2021)

Banff strives to be a model environmental community and we need community members like yourself to help us lead the charge.

This month, the focus is on food. Did you know that approximately 58% of food produced in Canada is lost or wasted each year and approximately 63% of that could have been eaten?

For Canada, that amounts to almost 2.2 million tonnes of edible food wasted each year! The good news? Organizations across the country are taking action. Visit lovefoodhatewaste.ca for more tips and inspiration!

Many Banff businesses are already on the Zero Waste Trail when it comes to composting food scraps. Our challenge to you is to think about ways to stop food waste from happening in the first place by following the food recovery hierarchy and planning for zero waste. Not only will this save food, it will save costs too!
Here are some tips to follow the food recovery hierarchy:

Source reduction: check out Guardians of the Grub, a campaign from the UK, to get inspired.
Innovate: Join the Bow Valley Food Waste Prevention Pilot with GOAT Generation. GOAT is an app for selling off edible food from commercial operations that may otherwise go to waste. Contact ivonne@goatgeneration.com to join the Bow Valley pilot project.
Redirect edible food: Donate edible food to Banff Food Rescue. It is estimated that Banff Food Rescue prevents between 10-15 metric tonnes of food from ending up in the landfill each month. Banff Food Rescue has minimal compost to begin with, and they now partner with a farmer who comes once a week to pick up any leftovers for the chickens and pigs to munch on. They have also begun making fresh juice with any produce that is about to spoil, which is shared with Food Rescue participants. To donate complete the online form at http://banffcollective.com/food-rescue.

Banff grocery store awarded Zero Waste Trailblazer honours

IGA is the latest recipient of the Zero Waste Trailblazer Awards, a recognition for Banff businesses and institutions that go above and beyond efforts to reduce, re-use and recycle.

Our zero waste team was given a behind the scenes tour of IGA, and left extremely impressed with what they saw. Well-organized recycling systems, clear signage, and knowledgeable staff all contribute to the success of IGA’s efforts to move toward zero waste. In addition to getting on board with Banff’s recycling and food scraps programs, IGA participates in Sobeys’ unique corporate-wide initiatives which include a special meat scrap recycling program, soft plastics and plastic film recycling, and serious procurement efforts to reduce non-recyclable packaging waste.

IGA doesn’t mess around when it comes to food waste. Since 2017 they have been donating over $200 worth of edible food each day to Banff Food Rescue, supporting food access in Banff’s community and prevent even the need for composting, let alone landfill. This adds up to over $75,000 per year. In addition, IGA’s ‘Enjoy Tonight’ system marks down fresh food that is on its best before date, as well as their Fresh Item Management software helps them avoid over ordering on items that may go to waste.

For Banff businesses, garbage is the most expensive service when it comes to waste management. IGA is well aware that all of their excellent initiatives to reduce waste also mean reducing costs, and a good environmental decision is also a good business decision.

Many residents and visitors of Banff will be excited to hear that IGA eliminated all single-use checkout bags from their store effective May 5, 2021 as a part of Sobeys’ corporate effort to eliminate single-use plastics. We congratulate IGA for continually ploughing forward on all of these initiatives, especially as an essential service in the pandemic. You are truly zero waste heroes!

Zero Waste Trailblazers are selected based on 10 categories and 20 certification criteria relating to waste reduction and diversion practices, measured results, and related environmental protection initiatives. The categories are listed at banffzerowastetrail.ca/commercial. Businesses must score higher than 16 points (80%) to achieve Trailblazer status. Special recognition will be given to one business who demonstrates exceptional efforts each quarter.

For more information, or to learn how to be a Zero Waste Trailblazer, visit http://BanffZeroWasteTrail.ca.

See how you measure up! Email zero.waste@banff.ca for a waste assessment.

We interviewed IGA Store Manager Shawn Eltom, about his experience setting up a food scraps program for the store:

What motivates you to ensure food scraps are diverted from landfill? Diverting food scraps was an easy win for us to help the environment. In our production processes the majority of organic waste was being separated. We just needed to add the bin to complete the process.

How did staff respond to the new program? How did you communicate this change to them? The staff at IGA are always looking for ways to proactively support waste reduction. The staff had been asking for an option to divert organics and were very pleased to support the program when the bin arrived. We communicated this by taking a photo of the new bin and circulated a "Read and Sign" document to educate all staff on the elements of the program.

What were some of the challenges? As the "Read and Sign" education document was being circulated an employee that was unaware of the program threw landfill garbage in the organics bin which we had to separate.

What are you most proud of when it comes to your zero waste initiatives? I am most proud that this is an employee led initiative. The staff have embraced and executed the program based on knowing its the "Right thing to do."

What would be your #1 tip for other businesses (or residents) in Banff? Effective signage and communicating the elements of the program upfront will set the team up for success.

News from Banff Food Rescue

Looking for a volunteer gig where you get to help people and the planet? Banff Food Rescue is looking for volunteers! Roles include picking up food from the grocery stores, receiving food and sorting, and helping with evening distributions. There’s no better way to tackle food waste than supporting the organizations in our community who have already found solutions.

Sign Up to Volunteer!

It is estimated that Banff Food Rescue prevents between 10-15 metric tonnes of food from ending up in the landfill each month. Banff Food Rescue has minimal compost to begin with, and they now partner with a farmer who comes once a week to pick up any leftovers for chickens and pigs to munch on. They have also begun making fresh juice with any produce that is about to spoil, which is shared with Food Rescue participants. Talk about following the Food Recovery Hierarchy!

Banff Food Rescue is located at 215 Banff Ave, lower level Sundance Mall. They are open for evening distributions, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 – 7 p.m.
Banff Food Rescue: “Keeping Good Food from Becoming Food Waste”

Banff’s goal is to divert 70% from landfill by 2028 and send zero waste to landfill by 2050. You may be wondering: how do we actually get to zero landfill waste?
Solution: become a circular community! The Recycling Council of Alberta is helping Alberta communities to explore and support the Circular Cities concept, working with them to create roadmaps for a sustainable circular economy.

Read more about Banff’s roadmap here.

One of the actions identified in Banff’s roadmap was building a ‘circular’ hub, to serve as a platform that would increase re-use, sharing, and lending opportunities. The Town of Banff is currently working on plans to pilot the first stage of this project.

We are exploring how to develop an equipment lending library to allow Banff residents to borrow items that may be rarely used, hard to store, or are expensive. A program could be launched as early as this year, depending on interest, funding, and approval for safe operations during a pandemic. Would you use a lending library? Take our survey and let us know at http://banffviewpoints.ca/LendingLibrary.
We’d love to hear more about what your business is doing to become more circular. Email us at zero.waste@banff.ca to share your circular stories and be featured in a upcoming newsletters!
A few actions that you can take today to become a more circular workplace:

Re-use packaging items like containers and bottles instead of buying more
Be part of the sharing economy: consider which items your business uses that can be re-used or shared among staff, rather than purchasing new
Incentivize staff and customers to participate in zero waste initiatives (i.e. BYO bags)
Participate in Banff Isn’t Disposable, a re-usable container program for businesses
Donate to the Re-Use It Centre!

Get in touch:
Share the Zero Waste for Residents newsletter with a friend
Email us: zerowaste@Banff.ca
Learn more: BanffZeroWasteTrail.ca