BCFB Learning

Join Anthesis as they discuss waste and upcycling in the food and beverage sector. The team previously established a RePurpose Incubator for food waste in Ontario and is currently making connections between stakeholders in British Columbia with the intention of creating a similar program. The aim of the RePurpose Incubator is to identify unavoidable byproducts in the food and beverage sector and create value chains in which they can become inputs for alternative processing instead of becoming waste. 

Anthesis will provide context on the global impact of food waste and highlight work being done to mitigate it, including the benefits of establishing networks of industry partners to create opportunities for upcycling and circularity. They will also provide more detail about their current efforts in BC, including information about how interested parties can get involved and what to expect from the process.

 Presented by:

• Cher Mereweather, Agri-Food Sector Lead for North America.   Cher is a passionate advocate for a healthy lifestyle that is deeply connected to the natural environment. The food system became an obvious source of study and focus for her professional career, as food is the nexus between environment and health. Before founding Provision Coalition Inc. (subsequently acquired by Anthesis), Cher’s career included time with the Guelph Food Technology Centre (now NSF International) where she established and directed the Sustainability Consulting Business Unit, and executive positions in environmental economics and policy with the Canadian agri-food think tank, the George Morris Centre. Cher holds a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Policy and is certified in both project and change management. Cher has also been awarded the Canadian Grocer Generation Next award for her leadership, innovation, and excellence in sustainability within the food and beverage industry.       

• Kristyn Oldendorf, Associate Director/Service Line Leader, Waste Management
  Kristyn specializes in sustainability and waste diversion projects and programs, policy, research, and strategic planning. Over the past 15 years, Kristyn has worked with multi-disciplinary teams to implement small and large waste diversion projects and studies. Prior to joining Anthesis, Kristyn led the Office of Waste Diversion for Baltimore City, where she planned and implemented new waste and resource recovery programs in coordination with a range of public and private stakeholders. A few of these projects include the citywide distribution of trash and recycling carts, a food waste reduction program, and drafting the City's 10-Year Solid Waste Management Plan and the City’s “Less Waste, Better Baltimore” operating plan.        

• Dave Eto, Food Industry Expert , Dave has been involved in the food sector for over 30 years holding positions of CEO, CTO and COO for a variety of companies both private and public. His goal is to understand the complexities and dynamics of the food value chain - from farm to fork. In the past five years, Dave has served as a strategic advisor for SMEs and has focused on aligning operational excellence, sales growth, fund raising and sustainability practices as a roadmap to corporate success.  Dave’s current efforts to bring a RePurpose Incubator to BC compliments his interests in serving the food & beverage community, encouraging a more sustainable and healthy industry. 

Webinar date: January 12th 2023