Toronto pay-what-you-can store aims to tackle landfills and hunger

[Judi Lynn]

Initiative aims to reduce dumping of ‘waste’ and sell it at prices set by buyers

Ashifa Kassam in Toronto

@ashifa_k
Mon 25 Jun 2018 00.00 EDT

In a bright, airy Toronto market, the shelves are laden with everything from organic produce to pre-made meals and pet food. What shoppers won’t find, however, is price tags. In what is believed to be a North American first, everything in this grocery store is pay-what-you-can.

The new store aims to tackle food insecurity and wastage by pitting the two issues against each other, said Jagger Gordon, the Toronto chef who launched the venture earlier this month.

Every provision is donated by a network of partners across the region, and many of them – from blemished or misshapen produce to staples that are nearing their expiry date – would have otherwise ended up in landfills.

“So it’s a simple procedure of taking those trucks that are destined for landfills, hijacking them and giving them to people in need,” Gordon said.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/25/toronto-pay-what-you-can-store-aims-to-tackle-landfills-and-hunger

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility. nt