The prevention of food waste in our markets

At Montréal's public markets, the fight against food waste takes many forms. Programs to recover unsold items, discounted baskets, and direct donations to neighborhood residents are just a few examples.  Find out how these initiatives help feed the community while promoting the work of producers and combating food waste. 

The La Récolte Engagée program

La Récolte Engagée is an unsold food recovery program that was implemented at the Jean-Talon and Atwater markets a few years ago. In partnership with two community organizations, this program redistributes fruit, vegetables, and other edible food to families in need, preventing it from ending up in the compost. 

At Jean-Talon Market, the program was launched in 2017 in partnership with the Centre de ressource et d'action de La Petite-Patrie (CRACPP), a community organization that fights poverty through food security and waste reduction activities. Every week, the CRACPP team collects fruit and vegetables that have not been purchased by customers from the market's cold storage room. These foods are then redistributed via food baskets or cooked in the collective kitchen. In the summer of 2025, donations from merchants enabled the redistribution of more than 5,000 kilograms of food!

For its part, the Atwater Market joined the Récolte engagée program in 2023 in collaboration with Partageons l'Espoir, a community organization with strong roots in the Southwest. Since the program was introduced, merchants have been placing their unsold food in a refrigerator dedicated to this purpose. As at the Jean-Talon Market, the fruit and vegetables are then processed in the community kitchen or distributed as is in food baskets. Some merchants quickly wanted to contribute more by donating larger quantities or offering food for the organization's community barbecues. This is the case for the Génération en génération farm, Boucherie les viandes Saint-Vincent, and Boucherie Claude & Henri. A big thank you to these three generous businesses!

Other ways to fight food waste

In addition to the Récolte engagée program, merchants in Montreal's public markets have developed their own generosity networks. Some give their unsold items directly to people who come by at the end of the day, while others distribute them to their employees or donate them to organizations in their area. These varied approaches show that community engagement can take many forms. 

Several merchants have also developed such effective inventory management strategies that they generate virtually no unsold items. Potager Mont-Rouge is a prime example with its system of discounted baskets, which are very popular with customers. The concept is simple: at the end of the day, fruits and vegetables that look a little tired are grouped together in baskets and offered at a discount.

This win-win model benefits both merchants, who get value for their hard work, and customers, who get access to fresh produce at low prices. What's more, no edible food ends up in the compost! 

Read Bernard Lavallée's In praise of older fruits and vegetables
 

It's also important to remember that before arriving on the shelves, in discounted baskets, or at Récolte engagée, many foods are processed by producers and food artisans. This extensive processing work on the farm greatly reduces fruit and vegetable losses!

Tous à Table, a program that broadens the circle of solidarity

To combat poverty and amplify the impact of organizations fighting food insecurity, it is important to diversify forms of support and avoid making the fight against poverty entirely dependent on the fight against food waste. The Tous à Table program facilitates the involvement of other actors. This program broadens the circle of solidarity by allowing donors to offer gift cards from the Marchés publics de Montréal to people in vulnerable situations. 

Learn more about the Tous à Table program