Donations of unsold food could mean tax breaks for food suppliers

HALIFAX – A national food waste reduction plan that would give tax breaks to food suppliers and producers that donate food that would be normally thrown away, instead of wasting it, is something the Halifax Regional Council is looking into implementing.

Councillor Jennifer Watts is behind the motion. She says the benefits are wide ranging, from reducing waste to alleviating hunger in the community.

“It helps to provide food to people in our communities that need it. It supports businesses in terms of offering them a way to deal with food waste that’s expensive. It supports the municipality by having less food go in our organic system which then costs us.”

Watts says it’s estimated that 40 per cent of all the food produced is wasted before it gets to a table and 70,000 tonnes of edible food worth $31 billion winds up in Canadian landfills every year.

The tax break would lower those numbers by encouraging the donation of edible food that is safe and healthy for human consumption but cannot be sold. Businesses that do donate food to charitable groups could deduct the cost of the food from their income.

Local market interest

The Local Source Market in Halifax supplies local produce to an adjoining restaurant and their grocery store. Social Coordinate Megan MacLeod says they don’t waste a lot of food. But a food waste reduction plan would be an easy transition for them with a nearby food bank.

“Parker Street (Food and Furniture Bank) is just down the road and if we saw something that was going bad, like a large amount it would be great to be able to donate it to them and have a tax benefit from that,” said MacLeod.

Nick Jennery, executive director of Feed Nova Scotia, says there are currently 40,000 Nova Scotian’s registered at a food bank. He thinks this plan would give a boost in donations to their food banks.

“I think it’s a terrific idea. I think it would provide producers and manufacturers with an additional option as they run their businesses, something that would hopefully result in a donation to us,” Jennery said.

Halifax Regional Council will discuss the plan at Tuesday’s council session.

Watts also wants Halifax to encourage the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to sign on to the plan.