Support local and enjoy a sustainable holiday with the Upcycled Holiday Food Box

Reimagine Food, Guelph Box and Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL) are partnering to deliver a food box filled with local upcycled food products this holiday season.

Every item in the Upcycled Holiday Food Box was carefully designed to use high-quality ingredients to their maximum value, diverting waste from our landfills as a result.

A few examples from the box include:

  • Cozy hot chocolate that uses nourishing bone broth as its base.
  • Zippy ginger beer that uses the fibre-dense ginger pulp from another juice product.
  • Spicy hot sauce that packs a punch with malt vinegar from a previous fermentation process.

Upcycled products reduce food waste, support our climate goals and spur local innovation and economic development.

All products in the Upcycled Holiday Food Box are produced right here in southern Ontario and are available for purchase online or in retailers and markets across Guelph-Wellington. It celebrates farmers, makers, producers, and artisans and makes an excellent gift. Five dollars of every box sold will go towards a local community food initiative.

“The Upcycled Holiday Food Box is a tangible example of a circular food economy in practice – one that nourishes its community, supports its local business and agriculture and restores its natural ecosystems. This is a great way to support local this holiday season,” says Molly Fremes, Program Advisor at COIL.

Boxes cost $75 and can be ordered online through Guelph Box before December 11. Boxes can be picked up from the Guelph Farmers’ Market on December 15, otherwise, delivery in Guelph-Wellington is available for a small fee.

Vendors participating in the Upcycled Holiday Food Box include:

  • Greenhouse Juice
  • Beck’s Broth
  • Escarpment Labs
  • Heartwood Cider
  • The SEED
  • Pfisterer Farm
  • The Commonfare Kitchen

Reimagine Food will be at the Wellington County Museum & Archives Christmas Fair, November 25, between 4-9 p.m. with a sample box.

About Our Food Future and Reimagine Food

Inspired by the planet’s natural cycles, a circular food economy reimagines and regenerates the systems that feed us, eliminating waste, sharing economic prosperity, and nourishing our communities. In Guelph-Wellington, we are working to build Canada’s first tech-enabled circular food economy that will achieve a 50 per cent increase in access to affordable nutritious food, create 50 new circular economy businesses and collaborations, and a 50 per cent increase in circular economic benefit by unlocking the value of waste. The Reimagine Food Campaign initiative is Our Food Future’s local effort to inspire a circular food economy movement.

About Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL)

Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL) is an innovation platform and activation network focused on creating, proving and scaling transformative solutions across all sectors – starting with food and environment – in southern Ontario that will move Canada toward a more sustainable, circular economy.

COIL is a sibling initiative of Our Food Future – both led by the Smart Cities Office, a joint local government project of City of Guelph and County of Wellington. Funding for COIL program participants is provided in collaboration with 10C’s Harvest Impact Fund, a social-finance initiative that supports impactful projects to strengthen local communities.

About Guelph Box

Guelph Box supports local Guelph Wellington businesses through curated boxes delivered straight to your door. 5% of every box is donated to charity. Guelph Box delivers to Guelph, Fergus, Elora, Rockwood, Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo.

Media Contact

Ashlee Cooper, Program Advisor
Smart Cities Office, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer
City of Guelph
519-822-1260 extension 3544
[email protected]

Desjardins commits $250,000 to COIL Climate and Circularity Solutions Hub

Desjardins commits $250,000 to COIL Climate and Circularity Solutions Hub

Commitment funds circular economy initiative helping regional enterprises address climate change challenges

Guelph, Ont., November 7, 2022 – Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL) has received a $250,000 donation from Desjardins Group to support the work of its new Climate and Circularity Solutions Hub.

The Hub, which launched in October, applies circular economy principles to provide expertise, research and strategies to help regional businesses and community organizations adopt actions to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change.

The circular economy has been identified as a primary strategy in Canada’s climate action plan, which sets bold targets to reduce emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 and achieve Net-Zero Emissions by 2050. The plan highlights that the path to a resilient future requires the adoption of clean technologies and resource efficient approaches that underpin a circular economy.

Leveraging COIL’s existing regional networks, infrastructure and expertise, the Hub develops and shares specific strategies that reduce waste, create new value streams, and introduce more climate-friendly processes in business operations. It supports new learning opportunities such as the Circular Leadership Program in partnership with the Ivey Business School Centre for Building sustainable Value, and the evaluation and measurement of circular approaches that maximize emission reductions. 

”Our co-operative values are guided by the unwavering belief that economic development should drive social progress and help improve the quality of life for local communities and the environment. There is no planet B,” said Guy Cormier, President and CEO of Desjardins Group. “We are proud to support COIL’s Climate and Circularity Solutions Hub which will help businesses grow and integrate more sustainable and environmentally conscious practices.”

In 2016, Desjardins created GoodSpark Fund and committed to investing $250 million by 2024 in socially transformative projects created by and for the community. Through the fund, Desjardins awards grants to initiatives and sectors that impact communities the most, like employment, economic vitality, education and the environment. So far, the GoodSpark Fund has supported more than 600 initiatives.

 “Desjardin’s donation is an incredible example of corporate leadership supporting community-led climate action,” said David Messer, Executive Director, Smart Cities Office.

“Our comprehensive circular economy approach considers not only the reuse, recovery and recycling of materials that were previously wasted, it addresses processes and decisions that prevent waste generation across an entire value chain. With Desjardin’s generous commitment we will be able to complete research and demonstration projects that will accelerate this work.”

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Additional Quotes

“This is an incredible example of private sector and government working together to tackle critical global issues like climate change. It’s inspiring to see a major national corporation recognize the value in the transformative work that is happening in the City of Guelph and across southern Ontario.”

Scott Stewart, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Guelph

About Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL)

Launched in April 2021 with $5 million in funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), COIL is an innovation platform and activation network aimed at creating, proving and scaling transformative solutions across the food and environment sectors in southern Ontario that will move Canada toward a more sustainable, circular economy.

COIL builds on the Our Food Future Smart Cities initiative which is close to meeting its goal of creating 50 new circular businesses and collaborations.

Funding for COIL program participants is provided in collaboration with 10C’s Harvest Impact Fund, a community social finance fund developer with Our Food Future aimed at supporting impactful projects to strengthen the Guelph and Wellington communities.

About Desjardins Group

Desjardins Group is the largest cooperative financial group in North America and the fifth largest cooperative financial group in the world, with assets of $391 billion. It was named one of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers by MediaCorp. To meet the diverse needs of its members and clients, Desjardins offers a full range of products and services to individuals and businesses through its extensive distribution network, online platforms and subsidiaries across Canada. Ranked among the world’s strongest banks according to The Banker magazine, Desjardins has one of the highest capital ratios and credit ratings in the industry.

Resources

Photograph from event – caption:

Billy Boucher, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer, Desjardins Ontario Credit Union; Francine Côté, Chair of the Board, Desjardins Ontario Credit Union; David Messer, Executive Director, Smart Cities Office; Guy Cormier, President and CEO of Desjardins Group; Andrew Telfer, Collaboration and Development Lead, COIL; Ronald Corbett, Regional Vice-President, Toronto and Southwestern Ontario, Desjardins Ontario Credit Union

Desjardins Logo

Climate and Circularity Solutions Hub Logo

Media contacts

David Messer, Executive Director
Smart Cities Office, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer
City of Guelph
519-822-1260 extension 3661
[email protected]