Walmart to fund food waste reduction programs

Bentonville, Ark. – Non-profit organizations working to reduce food waste in Canada have access to funds – thanks to Walmart.

In a statement, The Walmart Foundation says it is making Cdn$1.87 million available to fund proposals “from qualified organizations that have experience in formulating, proposing and implementing food waste reduction efforts.”

The foundation says it will consider requests between US$250,000 and US$1,000,000.

Walmart is looking at ways to reduce waste in its own operations “and achieve zero waste in key markets, including Canada, by 2025,” says the statement. The funding announcement is a way to build on that commitment.

According to the statement, Walmart’s Global Responsibility Report says “the retailer has diverted 77 per cent of waste from unsold food, other unsold products and materials from landfill through a variety of initiatives including food donations, repurposing products and composting.”

The statement says in Canada, Walmart “diverts 81 per cent of its operational waste through programs that divert more than a dozen waste streams from landfill.”

The foundation will consider applications from promising programs in three areas, as listed in the statement:

• Programs that address food loss and waste from farm to consumer, such as increasing knowledge of the causes of food loss on farms or during processing;
• Programs that build capacity in the charitable food system, such as increasing the ability to recover and distribute food to people in need, specifically in rural areas and for under-served populations; and
• Programs that optimize and/or develop organic recycling solutions, such as advancing innovations and programs that improve organic recycling