The Globe and Mail
From inside an unprepossessing industrial facility in Vancouver’s Strathcona district, entrepreneur Brad Marchant has figured out how to disrupt the avalanche of food waste produced by modern consumer society, and he has found an unlikely ally in this grand environmental mission: the lowly black fly.
Marchant’s 30-employee firm, Enterra, feeds preconsumer food – waste dough, stale bread, bruised or expired produce etc. – to swarms of flies, which produce protein and fat-rich larvae that turn out to be excellent feedstock for the meal or fertilizer used by fish and livestock farms, as well as grain growers. “Insects are mother nature’s cleanup crew,” he says. “There is no waste.” …
Other more consumer-based approaches, such as furniture-sharing clubs, have also emerged to provide alternatives. “People are looking at different models of ownership,” says Vancouver lawyer Malcolm Brodie, chair of the National Zero Waste Council. Sauve says cap-and-trade systems also provide market signals for manufacturers looking for more efficient ways to compete. …