{"id":3818,"date":"2026-03-28T10:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T10:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/?p=3818"},"modified":"2026-03-28T10:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T10:42:23","slug":"the-stop-community-hub-partnering-for-a-better-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/the-stop-community-hub-partnering-for-a-better-future\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stop Community Hub: Partnering for a Better Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Author: Hilda Nouri Sabzikar, Urban Agriculture Manager, The Stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The City of Toronto reports that \u201cmore than&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/services-payments\/recycling-organics-garbage\/long-term-waste-strategy\/waste-reduction\/food-waste\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">99,000 tonnes<\/a>&nbsp;of food waste (avoidable and unavoidable) is generated annually.\u201d&nbsp;Our goal at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestop.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;The Stop Community Food Centre<\/a>&nbsp;is to significantly reduce food waste while generating fresh, healthy and accessible food for our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With this goal in mind,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestop.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Stop<\/a>&nbsp;partnered with the FoodCycler to transform food waste into a vital gardening resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/t6958420.p.clickup-attachments.com\/t6958420\/a30fa1c9-0519-4a95-b8f0-f1acb433bed5\/foodcycler-gb%20(1).jpg\" alt=\"A stainless steel workspace featuring a white FoodCycler Eco 3, a green bucket, and various squash on the counter. Wooden shelves above are lined with dozens of jars containing dried herbs and seeds, with bunches of dried plants hanging from the ceiling.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Stop&nbsp;believes that recycling food waste and reusing it to grow food is&nbsp;integral&nbsp;to building a sustainable future. The FoodCycler helps with just this; allowing our food scraps and plant matter to be turned into a soil amendment that we use as fertilizer to add to our gardens or compost system to further breakdown and enrich the soil.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/2580\/7529\/files\/compost_sifting_1024x1024.jpg?v=1708448749\" alt=\"Four people of diverse ages and backgrounds standing outdoors, sifting dark compost through wooden mesh screens into large black bins in front of a modern glass-walled building.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Stop: Our Mission<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>The Stop Community Food Centre\u2019s mission is to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community and challenges inequality. We do this by offering programs and services that are accessible and culturally appropriate and which respond to food insecurity, social isolation and poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/2580\/7529\/files\/garden_1_480x480.jpg?v=1708448779\" alt=\"A low-angle view of a lush garden bed featuring large-leafed green vegetables in the foreground, with further rows of plants and a brick wall visible in the background.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Programs, Sites and Partnerships<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>The Stop has 3 sites, which offer a range of food access programs, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a food bank;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>daily community meal programs;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>an advocacy support office;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>cooking and food skills programs;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>community gardens and more!\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/2580\/7529\/files\/unnamed_1024x1024.jpg?v=1708448839\" alt=\"A woman wearing a tan baseball cap and a patterned top smiles warmly while kneeling and working with dark potting soil in a large plastic bin inside a bright, industrial greenhouse.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Our Green Barn site, situated at the Wychwood Barns at Christie St. Toronto, ON, is our urban agriculture hub; this is where you will find us putting the FoodCycler&nbsp;to work transforming food waste into soil amendment, which we sow&nbsp;directly into our gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/2580\/7529\/files\/volunteer_in_garden_1024x1024.jpg?v=1708448886\" alt=\"A person in a sun hat and blue t-shirt kneels and smiles while tending to a leafy tomato plant supported by bamboo stakes in a garden next to a brick building.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;Green Barn team coordinates&nbsp;with&nbsp;4 community gardens across the City of Toronto, including the Earlscourt Community Garden, the Mashkikiiaki\u2019ing (Medicine Earth) Garden in partnership with NaMeRes, the Global Roots Seniors Garden in partnership with CultureLink and our Shelter Garden at the Barns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the Green Barn site houses a 8,000 sq. foot greenhouse on-site, where we operate one of the few year-round farmers\u2019 markets in the city!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every Saturday of the year from 8am-1pm with over 35+ vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/2580\/7529\/files\/foodcycler-adwoa_1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1708448909\" alt=\"In a professional kitchen setting, a woman in a crocheted hat chops green plant waste on a bright green cutting board next to an open FoodCycler collection bucket.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The FoodCycler&nbsp;aligns&nbsp;with our goals at the Green Barn and acts as a symbiotic complement to our existing compost activities. Before we introduced the FoodCycler, we had an outdoor 3-bin compost system as well as 3 worm bins in operation. With the addition of the by-product from the FoodCycler we are able to add an even greater amount of the food scraps&nbsp;generated&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;by our meal programs, kitchen rentals and farmers market right into our compost!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/2580\/7529\/files\/foodcycler-soil_1024x1024.jpg?v=1708448937\" alt=\"A close-up shot of a hand tilting a gray FoodCycler bucket to pour processed compost directly into a raised wooden garden bed filled with dark soil and small green seedlings.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Do We Use the FoodCycler?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>A few times a week, before heading home, our staff empty our green bin&#8217;s organic waste straight into the FoodCycler, being careful to remove any dense bones, fatty meat or large rinds before emptying. By the time we come in the next morning, the FoodCycler has done the work to reduce our food waste to one-eighth the size of what it was before!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the winter, we add the FoodCycler soil amendment into our outdoor compost and in the outdoor growing season we add the contents straight into our gardens after mixing it with soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/2580\/7529\/files\/IMG_3499_1024x1024.jpg?v=1708448965\" alt=\"A top-down view of several people wearing face masks and garden gloves kneeling around a patch of dark earth, using small hand tools and a wooden ruler to carefully plant seeds.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Using the FoodCycler helps to remind us that there are so many ways that food waste can be reused in our food system! This convenient machine makes it easy for us to recycle more of our food scraps. Additionally, the FoodCycler has become an essential tool for us at The Stop, allowing us to observe how innovation can transform food waste to soil amendment, soil amendment to soil, and from soil to even more food!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Donate Today&nbsp;<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>For more info on donations and how to support visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestop.org\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Stop<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Note on Terminology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The FoodCycler\u00ae is a countertop electric food waste recycler that breaks down food scraps through a mechanical process into a dry, lightweight by-product that can be used in gardening applications as a fertilizer. The FoodCycler\u00ae and other electric food waste recyclers are not composters, nor do they produce compost or soil as they do not require additional microbes to break down food waste with bacteria. However, the term &#8220;electric composter&#8221; has been used to describe electric food waste recyclers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author: Hilda Nouri Sabzikar, Urban Agriculture Manager, The Stop. The City of Toronto reports that \u201cmore than&nbsp;99,000 tonnes&nbsp;of food waste (avoidable and unavoidable) is generated annually.\u201d&nbsp;Our goal at the&nbsp;The Stop Community Food Centre&nbsp;is to significantly reduce food waste while generating fresh, healthy and accessible food for our community. With this goal in mind,&nbsp;The Stop&nbsp;partnered with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3819,"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions\/3819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodcycler.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}