About $31 billion worth of food is thrown away annually in Canada. Meanwhile, more than 850,000 Canadians rely on food banks for their next meal, including many children.

So why does good food go to waste in this country while so many are struggling to feed their families?

That鈥檚 a question that has long bothered social justice advocate Tammara Soma. She is head of the recently created , which seeks to better understand food waste and how to prevent it.

Soma says that while $31 billion of food waste might sound like a lot, that鈥檚 actually a conservative estimate.

鈥淭he true cost of food waste when you factor in the energy that is wasted (to produce the food), is actually close to $107 billion annually,鈥� she told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning on Friday.

The United Nations鈥� Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that the full cost of food waste is approximately two and a half times greater than the 鈥渇ace value鈥� of the wasted food, because of the wasted water, energy, labour, capital investment, and more.

Soma says most food that gets thrown away in Canada 鈥� a full 47 per cent 鈥� occurs in the home.

鈥淐onsumers like you or I throw away about $1,500 worth of wasted groceries annually. So that鈥檚 a lot of money. But at the same time, there鈥檚 also retailing waste, farm waste and processing waste. So it鈥檚 all across the food supply chain,鈥� she said.

Soma鈥檚 research has led to her to push for what she calls 鈥渁 circular economy鈥� and a 鈥渃losed loop food system鈥� so that 鈥渨asted鈥� food is composted and returned to the land as nutrients so that at least it is not wasted, but actually has a use.

鈥淚t is basically like a circle, so there鈥檚 no beginning and there鈥檚 no end. Everything is fed back into the food system,鈥� she explained.

鈥淭he idea is if you have food scraps, you compost it and then you use it again to grow food. This is similar to an indigenous world view that sees everything as interconnected.鈥�

Since most food waste is happening in the home, all Canadians can make small changes to help with the problem.

Some of Soma鈥檚 recommendations include:

  • Do frequent, smaller shopping trips to avoid buying too much
  • Stop focusing on 鈥渟tocking up,鈥� since a lot of waste comes from forgotten food that is stored away
  • Take up vegetable gardening, since studies show that people who grow their own food tend to waste food less.
  • Use the freezer for foods that are about to start going bad
  • Cook in large batches and freeze the leftovers
  • Use the blender for wilting and browning fruit and turn them into smoothies
  • Compost all food scraps in the garden or through municipal composting programs