FCM Green Municipal Fund (GMF) grant will help reduce food waste in Guelph

Guelph, Ont., March 10, 2025 – Guelph has received a $500,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ (FCM) Green Municipal Fund (GMF) to reduce food waste. The funding will support three pilot programs:

Food Redistribution: Starting this month, this project will capture surplus edible food and redistribute it to charity organizations using the B12Give app.

Organics Collection: This ongoing project expands a cooperative model for organics collection in the Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional (IC&I) sector to divert food waste from landfills.

Energy Generation: This project explores the feasibility of generating energy from organics processing through anaerobic digestion.

Implementation

This funding will offer the City of Guelph the tools to implement a holistic and circular solution to food waste from the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (IC&I) sector, keeping food at its highest value through surplus edible food donations, while also driving affordability of organic waste diversion services. This will be especially significant for smaller and mid-sized IC&I establishments that are typically charged significant premiums to access organics services.

“We are very pleased to receive the FCM grant as we continue to strive to minimize food waste in Guelph,” says Mayor Cam Guthrie, City of Guelph. “This represents an important step towards our vision for an inclusive, connected, prosperous city where we look after each other and our environment. Not only will we be able to save surplus edible food that is being unnecessarily discarded, but we can also redirect it to community agencies and organizations to distribute it to those who need food assistance. Thank you to City staff for their efforts to secure this invaluable grant.”

“There is excitement and momentum to pursue these projects to the benefit of our city and communities,” says Tara Baker, CAO, City of Guelph. “We are living in times that require smart solutions to help improve the sustainability of our resources. This includes trying innovative technologies to create and capture energy from food waste processing. This would support our goals to become a net zero carbon community by 2050.”

Background Studies

The 2021 Food Material Flow Study identified the IC&I sector as a major source of food waste in Guelph-Wellington, producing 16,500 tonnes annually, which is over 45% of the total food waste. A 2022 feasibility study explored interventions for economic, environmental, social, and well-being outcomes.

The $500,000 funding, achieved with Circular Innovation Council and Dillon Consulting, supports three pilot projects based on these studies to reduce IC&I food waste.

Resources

1. Food Material Flow Study
2. Our Food Future

About FCM’s Green Municipal Fund

FCM’s Green Municipal Fund (GMF) is a globally unique organization providing funding and education to municipalities to help them both reach net-zero and build resilient communities, while also delivering economic and social benefits such as jobs, housing and infrastructure. Since inception in 2000, it has helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2.9 million tonnes, funded nearly 13,100 person-years of employment, enabled nearly 30,000 sustainable affordable housing units, and contributed $1.24 billion to the national GDP via the more than 2,300 approved projects. GMF manages approximately $2.4 billion in programs funded by the Government of Canada.

Media Contact

Meagan Ellison,
Communications Officer
Strategic Communications and Community Engagement
City of Guelph
226-821-0298
[email protected]

Heather Connell,
Manager, Business and Technical Services
Environmental Services, Solid Waste Services
City of Guelph
519-803-2645 extension 2082
[email protected]