Richmond city council is calling on the federal government to implement a tax incentive for food producers, suppliers, and retailers who donate unsold, edible food.
The incentive stems from waste reduction initiatives of the National Zero Waste Council.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie is the chair of the NZWC and said reducing food waste is something all cities and communities should be doing.
According to NZWC, the equivalent of roughly 300 million meals of edible food is tossed in landfills annually in Canada (not including food waste at home, which accounts for the vast majority of food waste).
The United Nations estimates about 40 per cent of all food produced globally is never eaten.
A key obstacle to reducing food waste is that it often costs less for food-selling businesses to toss food in the garbage as opposed to donating it.
With a tax incentive, the food industry could reduce operating costs by 15-20 per cent, noted NZWC.
