Canton Township adopts plan to reduce food waste
While about 1.5 million people in Michigan, or about one in six residents, are facing food insecurity, Canton Township officials are attempting to reduce food waste throughout the community. More than 400,000 children are among the 14-15 percent of hungry children facing the increasing demand at food banks, according to Feeding America data.
Canton Township has adopted a zero-food waste blueprint to offset the 44 million pounds of food waste in the community each year. That food waste produces 9000 tons of Co2e which would only be offset by planting 470,500 trees, explained Executive Director of Make Food Not Waste Danielle Todd at a recent meeting of the township board of trustees.
Todd told the board that last year, Canton residents spent $75 million for food they bought but did not consume and local businesses spent $1,250,000 on food that wasn’t sold. The waste, Todd said, costs $2 million a year in social costs.
In January of 2023, Canton launched a residential Food Compost Pilot Program to help reduce the amount of food waste being sent to landfills. In just the first year, the program successfully collected 166,674 pounds of food waste. To date, over 450,000 pounds of food waste has been diverted from the landfill, she reported.
Canton officials have adopted the program aiming to divert even more food waste with the recruitment of more program volunteers. Participating volunteers are issued a 2.5-gallon bucket with a lid, a sticker displaying the list of acceptable food waste, and a welcome email with detailed information about the program. Due to the size of the community, there are currently five designated drop-off locations for volunteers to use: Summit on the Park, Walker Winter School, Singh Sabha Temple, the Canton Farmers Market and Fire Station #2.
To learn more about Canton’s Food Compost Pilot Program and sign up as a volunteer visit cantonmi.gov/1360
To learn more about Make Food Not Waste, visit makefoodnotwaste.org
