The Community Re-Fresh program ensures hundreds of tonnes of fresh and edible leftover fruit and vegetables, typically dumped into local landfills, is redirected to the London Food Bank.

This initiative has become a powerful movement to support the environment and individuals facing poverty. In 2022, 55% of the food distributed by the London Food Bank was fresh. This is a staggering accomplishment that keeps food out of landfills, and into empty stomachs.

Community Re-Fresh also accepts financial donations to assist the Food Bank in obtaining eggs, cheese, and milk for clients.

Community Re-Fresh is a partnership between grocery stores, the City of London, Business Cares, and the London Food Bank.

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One of the most popular initiatives that the London Food Bank has undertaken in its 35-year history has been the large greenhouse built behind our main building. With the help of numerous volunteers, companies and individuals, the greenhouse was built just as the pandemic was beginning to surge.

It was becoming clear that to grow enough fresh food for food-insecure families and individuals, the capacity for such an effort would need to be enhanced. This effort has dramatically improved our ability to provide fresh produce, not just to our clients but to other agencies as well.   

With the help of Wayne Dunn and Business Cares, the London Food Bank is now offering free greenhouses and “green walls” to faith groups and organizations across the community to help continue to grow this capacity. All the costs for these efforts have been covered by Business Cares.

The community requires a more significant urban agriculture effort to take advantage of the richness of our soil. Greenhouses extend the growing season and bring the community together to donate and grow food for hungry families. It is a unique approach across this country and provides new opportunities to develop London’s potential.

Glen Pearson, Co-Director, London Food Bank

The Harvest Bucks program exists to help low-income individuals get fresh food for their families while supporting local fresh food markets.

The primary goals of the program are to increase:

• access and consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit
• awareness of and familiarity with farmers’ markets and supporting local producers
• inclusiveness of local community-based food programming

Every year, the London Food Bank spends over $100,000 funding the Harvest Bucks program. The Harvest Bucks program has been made possible in partnership with the London Food Bank, the Middlesex London Health Unit and other local agencies.

When food is wasted, so are all of the resources used in its production. 

Food production requires a lot of resources.  Getting food from the farm to your table requires water, land, fertilizer, and pesticides, as well as fuel for all the machines used in the process, and the people involved along the way. Throughout their lifetime, food can travel thousands of kilometers – from the farm, to processing and distribution centers, grocery stores or markets, and finally, your home.

Each stage of the journey produces greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to global climate change. When food is wasted, all the resources that went into producing the food are also wasted. To make matters worse, discarded food then travels to the landfill where it contributes to methane gas. 

There are many ways you can avoid wasting food and reduce your carbon footprint:

• Meal plan - Have a plan for your weekly meals and create your shopping list based on this plan.
• Leftovers - Food is often thrown out because too much is cooked. Reduce how much you prepare, or plan ahead to use any leftovers.
• Know before you go - Know what's in your fridge, freezer and cupboards, and use food up before buying more.
• Buy local - When possible, purchase your food from local suppliers. 

In recent years, the London Food Bank has enhanced its relationship with Meals on Wheels London to deliver fresh, affordable food to seniors. Research shows that food insecurity and hunger are increasing among older Canadians, especially those who have lost loved ones and live on fixed pensions.  Part of the Food Bank’s mandate is to provide nutritious food supplies to these members of our community, but most seniors do not visit the Food Bank for assistance.

By forming a partnership, Meals on Wheels and the London Food Bank can leverage the generosity of Londoners to address the ongoing nutrition needs of our senior population. This partnership helps both organizations support their clients and provides an efficient solution through collaboration. 

Buy together, save together! That’s the powerful premise behind the London Good Food Box, a program launched by the Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre. The program offers the opportunity to purchase fresh, healthy produce at a significant discount. Each box costs $15 but will usually contain over $20 worth of produce.

Working with a local farmer shopping at the Toronto Food Terminal, the program buys in bulk right from the source for high-quality items. “I would say the quality is better than the grocery store, actually.” says program coordinator Jazz Walmsley.

The program began in 2013 to help Glen Cairn residents access fresh food at a more affordable price. Since then, the program has grown and can be accessed through 17 different agencies, and 14 schools, across London. In May 2023, the program filled over 900 orders – its highest yet. Walmsley adds, “It’s great that so many people are using the program, but it also means that a lot of people in our community need the program. I’m glad we can help them.”

Good Food Boxes can be purchased with cash or Harvest Bucks, through a partnership with the London Food Bank, the Middlesex-London Health Unit and the participating agencies.

For a full list of participating agencies and more information about the program, visit gccrc.ca/goodfoodbox.

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If you’ve ever dropped off yard waste, tires or construction waste at the City of London Oxford Street EnviroDepot, you may have noticed a garden, which has been operational since May 2017 thanks to the help of neighbourhood friends and TRY Recycling staff. 

Growing in a space that was once a dumping ground for rubble, this community garden now produces vegetables for the London Food Bank. Over the years, the garden has produced tomatoes, carrots, beans, kale, beets, and a host of other vegetables. Now, to help limit the amount of produce lost to local wildlife before harvest, the garden primarily features garlic and potatoes.

A few seasons ago, gardener Ted Knezic (a retired London firefighter) and TRY team member Clovis Pinsonnault harvested nearly 500 lbs of potatoes and 300 heads of garlic for the London Food Bank. Ted and Clovis have been crucial to the success and cultivation of this bountiful garden. 

The garden is also a showcase for how compost can improve soil quality. The compost used at the garden has been produced by TRY Recycling from the yard waste materials dropped off at City of London EnviroDepots. 

Nestled in the outer southeast corner of the city, Urban Roots operates a thriving 1-acre non-profit farm with a mission to grow and distribute food more equitably. By focusing on the most fundamental determinant of health and security—access to food—they’re driving systemic change to ensure that healthy affordable produce reaches vulnerable and low-income households across the city. Yet, in working to improve food security, Urban Roots reminds us that the value of urban agriculture goes far beyond simply moving food from garden to table; it’s also about centreing the intersection of social and environmental justice in the systems of production and distribution.

At the heart of its work is a living logic that building regenerative food systems, ones that nourish just, vibrant, and healthy communities, means working with a deep sense of responsibility that implicates land, labour, and community. By centreing principles of food sovereignty, ecological stewardship, and food justice, Urban Roots advances a model of urban agriculture that integrates the restoration of healthy soils and the cultivation of diverse crop varieties to ensure the long-term viability of their farm’s ecosystem

Guided by the distribution “Model of Thirds,” Urban Roots channels its harvest through a combination of direct donations, affordable sales through community pop-up markets and their on-site farmgate market, and wholesale orders where they redistribute what they grow with intention and equity. In 2024 alone, Urban Roots donated approximately 4,141 pounds of organically grown produce to organizations serving food-insecure populations and redistributed an additional 18,362 pounds at reduced cost for the benefit of individuals and families who would otherwise struggle to access fresh local produce. Importantly, their no eligibility criteria or means-testing, ensuring that individuals who are excluded from, or deterred by, are still able to access nourishing food with dignity and ease. 

But the work doesn’t stop at the farm’s edge. Urban Roots is weaving a broader network of resilient regional food systems by partnering with organizations and institutions equally committed to reimagining how land is held, shared, and stewarded. In 2021, this took root through an urban gardening project with Siloam United Church, transforming underutilized land into a site of community sustenance. By 2022, the momentum expanded with the launch of the Parkwood Garden Site, a 3,128-square-foot lot in collaboration with Nourish Leadership and St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) Team, bringing fresh, nutrient-dense produce directly to hospital patients and residents.

Learn more and support Urban Roots with a donation

The PATCH is a network of urban agriculture sites and an agricultural skills training centre that places disabled individuals —and the structural supports necessary for accessibility—at the heart of sustainable food systems and community health. With three urban agriculture locations across London, including the Cavendish Community Food Hub, Nathan’s Urban Farm, and the PATCH Innovation Centre, each location is intentionally built to prioritize inclusion, access, and agency. All produce grown at these sites is distributed through local agencies, supplying fresh, nutrient-rich food to individuals and communities navigating food insecurity, and reinforcing the idea that equitable food systems must begin with and prioritize those most often excluded from them.

In partnership with Hutton House, The PATCH is focused on building community capacity and social mobility through inclusive, hands-on programming. Programs like The Orchard and PATCH-ED provide individuals facing employment barriers with agricultural education, while also supporting skill development, resume building, and facilitating valuable workplace experience through placement streams that enhance job readiness and expand future employment opportunities.

At its core, The PATCH challenges us to recognize the deep interconnections between disability and food security. Exploring the intersection of disability and food security means going beyond conventional discussions of availability and access. It calls us to consider who is routinely excluded or faces barriers, and how reimagining access as a collective right, rather than an individual need, could transform the landscapes where food, care, and justice meet. 

Recognizing this, The PATCH offers a vision for a different future, one in which human diversity, interdependence, and care for marginal lives are not afterthoughts, but the foundation of truly sustainable food systems. It invites us to design spaces where everyone, regardless of ability, can participate in and shape the work of feeding and sustaining one another.

Learn more and support The Patch with a donation

Operating across Belize and Canada, Type Diabeat-it is a non-profit initiative confronting the layered impacts of diabetes in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) and working-class communities. Rooted in the entanglement of food justice and public health equity, the organization mobilizes urban agriculture, food box distribution, fitness programming, and culturally grounded and health-oriented food literacy education. 

At its heart, TypeDiabeat-it exists to “combat diabetes through culturally conscious awareness, education, and preventative measures—ultimately working toward a better narrative within our health care system”. Along with spreading awareness regarding systemic food and health disparities facing historically marginalized communities, TypeDiabeat-it is equally committed to creating tangible, community-driven solutions. In 2020, under the leadership of Mystery Furtado, the organization established Harvest Haven—London’s first Black-led community garden. Located off Exeter Road, this 1.5-acre space serves as a site for cultivation, where land stewards come together to establish practical gardening skills, advance food security, and foster community self-determination. 

More than just a garden, Harvest Haven actively supports over 100 families weekly with affordable food boxes accompanied by nutrient-dense, culturally relevant recipes that support disease prevention and holistic health.

In addition, TypeDiabeat-it has developed a Food Literacy Curriculum, which is currently in collaboration with the Catholic School Board, to improve nutrition education, food literacy, diabetic education, alongside cultural reconnection that actively embraces and celebrates the sustenance and reclamation of Afro-Heritage foodways. The organization also runs a Healthy Portions Training Program in partnership with the London InterCommunity Health Centre, LUSO, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Northwest London Resource Centre. Programs that help participants develop consciousness around the nutritional and healing benefits of cooking and consuming Afro-diasporic foods.

Learn more and support TypeDiabeat-it with a donation

The food we eat doesn’t just fuel us, it forms us. It influences our health, our habits, and our connection to the world around us. But it’s not only what we eat that matters—it’s how we engage with food that shapes who we become. Growing Chefs! Ontario is a registered charity based in London that is committed to transforming how youth understand, interact with, appreciate, and take ownership of food through experiential, education-based programming. 

Our modern food systems have created a disconnection between people, their kitchens, and the land. In response, Growing Chefs! works to restore these relationships by offering children and youth a meaningful place at the table and into the heart of the kitchen, equipping them with the skills, courage, and knowledge to take an active role in growing, preparing, and sharing food.

Through collaborative, hands-on programs led by chefs, educators, growers, and community members, the organization fosters formative food literacy and culinary skills. Whether it be through the development of teaching material, monthly kids’ cooking classes, or yearly programs like the Beginner Culinary Program and Know Your Roots summer camp, Growing Chefs! is providing experiential, garden-to-table education at community gardens and kitchens located at The Grove. Here, participants are invited to get their hands dirty and become directly acquainted with food environments. These programs not only build an understanding of the full cycle of food, from planting to plating. They emphasize food literacy, support local and seasonal eating, teach essential cooking techniques, and curate positive relationships to food.

Equally, this philosophy extends beyond youth. Growing Chefs! also offers private, chef-led cooking classes for adults, inviting people of all ages to connect with food in meaningful, skill-building ways. In addition to education, the organization operates a school lunch initiative through The Beet Café, preparing and delivering over 65,000 healthy, waste-free meals annually to individuals across the city.

Learn more and support Growing Chefs with a donation

Situated in the heart of London’s Old East Village, The Grove at Western Fair District plays a critical role in transforming the region’s food landscape through a model rooted in collaboration, innovation, and local resilience. The Grove is an innovation hub dedicated to reshaping how we grow, share, and sustain food, while tackling some of the most urgent challenges of our time: food insecurity, climate change, and environmental degradation. A hub where entrepreneurs, farmers, chefs, and changemakers work side-by-side to reimagine how we row, share, and celebrate food.

As Kris Dinel, Director of Agri-Business Development, notes, within this space, “participants share resources, space, and connections to create the right conditions for innovation, education, and growth.” Through access to top-of-the-line facility commercial kitchens, event spaces, robust recycling and composting services, The Grove is intentionally designed to support local food economies, foster culinary entrepreneurship, and advance sustainable models of food and agricultural reproduction.

This sentiment reflects The Grove’s broader recognition that no single organization or individual can address or reimagine our local food systems alone. Instead, it's by working together, sharing ideas, and supporting creative leaders and small business owners that we can start to see and build new possibilities for the future of food.

The Grove is a mechanism for forward-thinking agriculture. Whether it’s through urban farming, vertical growing systems, or regenerative practices, the goal is to localize food production, minimize environmental impact, and reduce the distance from farm to table. Food waste is one of the most pressing environmental challenges today, and The Grove is taking a proactive approach. Tenants and partners at The Grove are developing and testing waste recovery programs, composting systems, and upcycling solutions that keep organic waste out of landfills and return nutrients to the soil. With programs such as the Wormery composting initiative, along with the forthcoming Agricultural Robotics Research and Training Centre (ARTC), The Grove stands as a pillar of community knowledge, empowerment, and innovation.

Learn more about The Grove

As cities sprawl and consumption increases, so too does our waste, placing significant pressure on local landfills and environmental systems. Established in 1991, TRY Recycling was founded with the aim of reducing the volume of construction and demolition materials sent to landfill. Currently diverting approximately 80 to 85 percent of the waste it receives, the organization has become a key actor in London’s emerging circular economy. Through its work with residents, businesses, and municipalities, TRY Recycling facilitates waste diversion and resource recovery, with the broader aim of reducing environmental impact and supporting the transition away from extractive economies. 

With two drop-off sites in London (one in the north located at 21463 Clarke Road and another in the south at 3544 Dingman Drive) TRY Recycling accepts a wide range of materials, including shingles, drywall, concrete, wood, asphalt, and yard waste as re-usable input. Through its advanced sorting, processing, and recovery systems, TRY is able to give new life to old materials. Recovered wood becomes mulch. Crushed concrete is turned into aggregate. Organic waste is composted into nutrient-rich soil amendments. Every step of the process is designed to reduce environmental impact while supporting a sustainable construction and landscaping industry.

The materials processed at TRY are often used in local infrastructure projects, home landscaping, and municipal initiatives. This keeps resources circulating locally, reduces the environmental costs of long-distance hauling, and supports green job creation in the region. In addition to its operational contributions, TRY Recycling has long played an educational role within the community. The organization actively promotes environmental awareness by helping residents understand the importance of proper waste sorting, diversion, and recycling. From school tours and industry talks to signage and digital outreach, TRY is helping foster a culture of sustainability — one load at a time.

Learn more about TRY Recycling

This Canadian company is making bold moves to redefine how we manage waste, not as garbage, but as a renewable resource. Convertus Group, a leader in sustainable organics processing and one of Canada’s most innovative contributors to the circular economy. With facilities in Ontario and British Columbia, Convertus is playing a critical role in transforming how cities handle the decomposition of this organic waste.

Each year, Canadians send millions of tonnes of food and organic waste to landfills, where it decomposes and emits harmful greenhouse gases like methane. Using advanced composting and anaerobic digestion technologies, Convertus takes organic waste, from food scraps, yard trimmings, biosolids, and more, converting it into valuable, environmentally friendly products like compost and renewable energy. Their London facility alone processes tens of thousands of tonnes annually, reducing landfill reliance and helping communities meet their waste diversion and climate goals. 

Every step of its operation is built around resource recovery and reuse. This model keeps valuable materials out of landfills, reduces emissions, improves soil health, and supports the kind of regenerative systems that our future depends on. Convertus is a company rooted in innovation. Its facilities are among the most advanced in North America, designed to meet the highest environmental standards. From odor control to energy efficiency, every aspect of the process reflects a commitment to minimizing impact and maximizing benefit.

As Canada’s food waste crisis grows and climate challenges become more urgent, the work of Convertus has never been more vital. The company proves that with the right vision, technology, and partnerships, it’s possible to take what’s been discarded and turn it into something that propels us forward sustainably. One compost pile, one truckload of food scraps, one community at a time — it’s helping build a cleaner, greener Canada from the ground up.

Learn more about Convertus Group