Maple Leaf Foods Inc. in partnership with kids' conservation organization Earth Rangers, has harnessed the collective power of Canada's youngest generation to help combat the 2.2 million tonnes of food wasted in Canada annually, that's like throwing away the weight of two million bricks every day.

Launched in the fall of 2022, kids across the country took part in the Earth Rangers' app-based “All Taste, No Waste” Challenge for six months. Children learned how to form and log environmentally friendly “habits” such as selecting misshapen produce, composting, reusing leftovers and more. The challenge reinforced how small changes can have a big impact on the environment when we step up for environmental sustainability.

More than 9,300 Earth Rangers across Canada used fun resources to learn about and log over 119,000 new sustainable food habits, such as “Being a Clean Plate Champion” where kids only dished up as much as they could eat, saving 19,192 plates of food from landfill. The “upcooking” habit prompted kids to log 14,834 meals made from leftovers.

As a reward for being climate champions and logging 100,000 habits collectively, Earth Rangers across the country unlocked an “All Taste, No Waste” leftovers-focused cookbook as a thank-you for protecting our planet.

The cookbook was curated by Maple Leaf Foods' Queen of Cuisine, chef Sam Lazuric. Maple Leaf Foods sponsored the cookbook reward. The free, downloadable resource is available to families across the country.

The “All Taste, No Waste” challenge is part of Earth Rangers' Project 2050, a program funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Collective action through Project 2050 has resulted in rewards that have supported over 10,000 bees in the Northern Territories, a reforestation initiative in Kamloops B.C. and a species reintroduction initiative in Toronto which released Blanding's Turtles into rehabilitated wetlands.

"The fight against climate change starts at home with every member of the family, and to help preserve the planet, we need to empower every generation to learn how each of us can step up for sustainability and join this fight," says Randy Huffman, chief food safety and sustainability officer at Maple Leaf Foods. "This family-focused challenge powerfully symbolizes that giving easy-to-incorporate habits to eliminate food waste will instill behaviours in children to last each mealtime and a lifetime."