Prof. Kate Parizeau, Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, spoke to BBC Future about why solving the problem of food waste is so tricky.

Parizeau said it’s often hard to know exactly how much and precisely what kinds of food we’re wasting, which is why she recently led a study in which her team dug through the compost bins and garbage cans of 94 families to categorize what was being wasted.

“There’s so much edible food that ends up in the trash,” she said.

Parizeau mentioned that she recently contributed to a cookbook released by the Guelph Family Health Study that helps families use up the food that’s already in their fridge.

A professor of urban geography, international development and other topics, Parizeau studies the social context of waste management, seeing urban waste practices as reflections of social organization systems.