Fruit pickers diverting food waste from B.C. backyards to local food bank

Fruit pickers in B.C.’s Greater Victoria region are rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste and gifting the bulk of it to local food banks.

A Greater Victoria non-profit is using mother nature’s bounty to help people experiencing food insecurity in the community.

The Fruit Tree Project sends volunteers to homes across the region, where they pick fruit from trees in peoples’ yards.

“There are a lot of hungry people in the region. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to leave (it) unpicked,” said Fruit Tree Project manager Ella Swan.

Last season, Swan said hundreds of volunteers helped collect more than 13,600 kilograms of fruit.

Volunteers and homeowners can keep some of the harvest, but the bulk of it goes to the food bank. Fruit that’s a little worse-for-wear is used to make cider, jam, and pie.

“It’s a win-win-win situation,” said volunteer Marina Wang. “The fruit doesn’t go to waste, it contributes to food security, and then I get to take some of it home as well.”

The project was founded in 1994, with the goals of addressing food insecurity and waste. More than three decades later, those problems remain prevalent.

As of last year, Food Banks Canada says one in five British Columbians is food insecure. Meantime, the province says organic waste makes up 40 per cent of the material sent to landfills.

“We need to make sure that the fruit that’s on the trees that nature is giving us goes to a good place instead of back to the rotting ground,” said volunteer Rachel Toews.

Homeowners’ can register their fruit trees with Life Cycles, the non-profit that runs the program. It’s dedicated to growing, harvesting, and sharing local food.

CTV News Vancouver Island tagged along for a tree pick at a home in Victoria. You can watch the full story above.