In 2023, over 300 pounds of fresh produce were redistributed in Nanaimo instead of ending up in landfills or left for wild animals.
A local gleaning group, in partnership with the Nanaimo Foodshare Society and the Nanaimo Community Gardens Society, uses volunteers to pick surplus fruit, vegetables and other crops that would otherwise go unpicked and end up in landfills or left for wild animals.
Lee Sanmiya is the gleaning coordinator for the Nanaimo gleaning program. She told CHLY that the program is to reduce food waste and redistribute the produce to community organizations.
Sanmiya said for the program the tree owners can take up to a third of the produce collected and the gleaners can take the rest. Gleaners will then keep what they need and then redistribute the rest of the community groups and organizations around the area.
