College of the Rockies business student Laura Kaplan is looking to start a free and feasible food waste program for Creston businesses.
She is working with Pealow’s Independent Grocer, a number of restaurants and agricultural producers to drastically reduce food waste by re-purposing what would otherwise be thrown away.
The aim is to collect organics from restaurants and grocers and compost it for agricultural producers or provide a form of free food for livestock.
Kaplan’s main backer is the Creston Museum, who is sponsoring the project.
“They have a sustainable agricultural mandate that this falls under,” Kaplan explains. “To help keep Creston beautiful. To preserve the history of Creston.”
She says she was inspired to work on sustainability after meeting like-minded people once moving up to Canada from the United States. Once Kaplan got into the habit of being less wasteful, she says the new habit became very rewarding.
“When people throw something in the garbage, they say throwing it away. There is no away.”
The pilot project still needs more backer and support so that she doesn’t have to pay out of pocket, but Kaplan says she wants to do it for free.
“If people can see a viable business model already in place, by making it free, by making it as easy for them as possible. To make a lifestyle change, to make a habit change, then we’ve made some progress towards that. We create an awareness in this pilot project, that’s why this should be in place.”
To contact the Creston Museum to find out how you can participate, call 1 250-428-9262 or go to www.crestonmuseum.ca