As food insecurity continues to escalate across Canada, food rescue organizations are raising concerns about hotel industry practices surrounding food waste, calling on major chains in Toronto to do more than pay “lip service” to sustainability.
Studies show nearly 47 per cent of all food in Canada is wasted, and almost 42 per cent of that food is till safe for consumption- highlighting the disconnect between surplus and need.
Many food upcycling and rescue organizations are eager to close this gap in the hospitality industry, but they are often met with logistical hurdles, vague sustainability policies and a lack of meaningful action.
Former hotel event staff Jasmine Manpreet, who worked events at the One King West Hotel, described how internal practices have changed in recent years, explaining how post-COVID-19 policies slowed down progress for food sustainability.
“A few years ago, staff would be able to store leftover food after events in the cafeteria but recently this has changed. Now we are required to toss out everything,” she said.
“There is so much leftover food that all gets wasted. It’s thousands of pounds … every month.”
Manpreet said that while hotels usually follow strict food policy practices for health and safety concerns, more should be done to bridge the gap between sustainability and practicality.
“I think there needs to be some updating on policies to reflect pre-pandemic structures, and they need to step up,” she added.
Global News reached out to One King but they declined to comment.
‘Huge waste of food’
Winston Rosser, vice-president of food rescue operations at Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue charity, confirmed that food waste in hotels and institutions remains a significant and under-addressed issue.
“About seven per cent of all avoidable food waste in Canada occurs at what we call the HRI level that include hotels, restaurants and institutions, which is about 1.4 million metric tons annually.”
Second Harvest says many hotels in Toronto still follow outdated food management and waste policies.
While the organization does partner with some hotels in the downtown core, Rosser says there is more room for upcycling of food.
Global News reached out to some of these larger chains, including Marriot, Shangri-la, Fairmont and Sheraton, for comment about their food waste and sustainability practices but did not receive responses in time for publication.
“We know food insecurity continues to climb. Over 10 million Canadians, including 2.5 million children, are experiencing food insecurity,” Rosser said.
Rosser says operational changes like smaller buffet portion sizes and withholding untouched food for donation are simple and effective ways to manage surplus portions.
“There is a huge waste of food,” he said.
“There is a lot of high-quality prepared food coming out of hotels. With a little bit of upfront effort, this perfectly good food can be distributed, saving the business money while making a social and environmental impact.”
Some hotel chains have already stepped up to take the initiative to save surplus food.
The Chelsea Hotel, one of Toronto’s largest hotels, confirmed its involvement in food rescue initiatives.
According to hotel management, 35 to 45 events are hosted per month during peak seasons, with leftover food either repurposed or donated through Second Harvest.
“We try to repurpose some foods that are safe to use for future; otherwise, we save the rest for the food rescue program that we have partnered with Second Harvest for,” a spokesperson from Chelsea stated.
The hotel has implemented various food waste reduction strategies, from converting day-old bread into croutons to using bones for broth, overripe fruits for smoothies, and leftover food for staff meals.
The hotel also said organic waste is composted through a waste management company.
Gaps in management
However, Tony Colley, founder and CEO of Be One to Give, a logistics platform to divert surplus food in real time to food-insecure communities, says many hotels in Toronto have yet to take up these initiatives.
“We have been fortunate to work with a prominent hotel here in the city … but not many hotels seem to have those sustainability departments.”
Colley believes that the biggest gaps lie in internal management and the lack of mandatory federal enforcement.
While Ontario’s Donation of Food Act protects businesses from liability when donating food in good faith, many hotels still cite legal fears or logistical issues, as reasons they don’t donate.
“I think from the hotels’ perspective, they really have to look internally,” Colley said. “Most food is cooked in stainless steel hotel pans and once that food service is complete, all that surplus food goes back into the kitchen and is simply discarded.”
Colley’s platform addresses many of the concerns hotels cite as barriers, like packaging, storage and cost, through a streamlined system.
“We actually provide the packaging. We provide the labels, and we provide the logistics. And the retailers who are sending this food to landfills, which they are paying for, now have a solution that is cheaper than garbage.”
Colley, who used to work as event staff at a hotel chain years ago, says he, too, was asked to discard surplus food. When he questioned the system and asked why food wasn’t being donated, management said they had no time to prep and package the surplus food and had to start prepping for the next event.
“Many of these big chains don’t have the knowledge to understand that there are ways to streamline these processes without impacting day-to-day schedules.”
Others in the food rescue space agree.
Spent Goods, a Toronto-based food upcycling company, says these initiatives must start at the management level.
“If there is management will, there are solutions that already exist to feed people instead of throwing it out,” a spokesperson said.
‘We’re dealing with a dual crisis’
The environmental and social consequences of food waste in Canada are hard to ignore.
Food waste in Canada produces approximately 124.5 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the same as emissions from 17.3 million cars on the road.
“We’re dealing with a dual crisis,” Rosser said, “a crisis of food insecurity and a crisis of climate change and food waste is deeply tied to both.”
As millions of Canadians struggle to put food on the table, thousands of pounds of edible food are tossed out behind hotel kitchens every day. The solutions, experts argue, already exist, it’s now a matter of taking action.
Until the hospitality industry takes stronger, systemic steps to reduce food waste, advocates say, the gap between surplus and need will continue to grow.