Perishable Food Recovery Program
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The Perishable Food Recovery Program, ensures that our clients receive fresh, nutritious food every day by partnering with our local grocery stores.
Since 2019, we've proudly redistributed over 6 million pounds of high-quality perishable food, providing families with fruits, vegetables, dairy, and more.
This program not only meets the growing needs of our community but also supports environmental sustainability by diverting 100% of product from landfill and preventing over 7 million kg of CO2 emissions.
As we expand to serve even more households, we're excited to continue offering the best possible food to our clients while reducing waste and strengthening our community.
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Background and Program Creation
Data Supporting the Success of the Program
In June 2019, the Perishable Food Recovery Facility opened, and we began picking up totes every day from the four Save-On-Foods stores in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. The food is sorted, weighed and recorded using the FoodMesh Data Collection Program. We now have No Frills, Great Canadian Superstore, FreshCo and Wal-Mart participating.
As of September 2024 we have repurposed 2.8 million kg of food previously destined for landfills. Of that over 50% has been distributed to clients of the food banks in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows as well as a number of other community organizations and agencies dealing with food insecurity. Using industry accepted calculators, the following can be reported.
Charity Donation Value equivalent to $10.2 million
7.2 million kg. of CO2 emissions have been saved
In 2022 the Friends in Need’s PFRP was recognized by the Ridge Meadows Climate HUB for not only diverting food from landfills, but also savings in CO2 emissions.
The City of Maple Ridge also awarded the program grants contributing to the operational costs. This program is non-revenue generating and grants and sponsors are sought every year to decrease the burden on the food bank operation. In 2023 our goal to dramatically reduce single use plastic which has been used to bag product for farm use has been successful by a reduction in plastics by 60% and has reduced our costs. The purchase of reusable farm totes was funded by grants from Food Banks Canada and the Maple Ridge Community Foundation. In March 2024 we received additional funding for farm totes from the Maple Ridge Safer Communities Grant.