Workstream members makes changes to their daily lives

Workstream members shared a lot of professional knowledge with us to help develop the Smart Cities proposal. We are excited to hear about how discussion of food issues and a circular food economy has encouraged them to make changes in their personal lives:

“After learning more about how much food waste residents are producing in Guelph-Wellington, our household sat down and discussed how we could reduce our impact. We decided to start by limiting how much food we throw away, and made a rule to not go grocery shopping until all options (and fridge resources) had been exhausted. This was surprisingly easier than we thought it would be – and is saving us lots of money as we get more creative in the kitchen.”

“As a result of my work on the Smart Cities proposal, I:

• Have been more aware of food waste and have consciously changed our family’s behaviour to waste less food.
• Have provided insight to the data/tech working group from privacy, organizational, and technology lenses.
• Have met many new talented people that I would not normally have interacted with.”

“Two key outcomes of my involvement with the SMART Cities initiative have been:

• Increases personal awareness of food purchasing and food waste habits. I’ve always been careful to compost and avoid overpurchasing but now I’m also increasing the amount of “imperfect” food (produce) and preplanning to eliminate excess purchasing that leads to waste.
• Increased professional awareness of the significant waste in the value chain, existing resources and the need for businesses to be better educated about options and strategies for reducing food/water/energy waste. Refocused business support to provide that education.”

These stories inspire us all to become informed about local food issues and make the changes that are possible for us at the personal level, at home, school or in the workplace.