Oppy has refined the role of senior manager of innovation and sustainability and chosen Garland Perkins to fill the slot. 

According to a statement, the Vancouver based fruit marketer had Steve Roosdahl to oversee the management and measurement of sustainability efforts until recently, along with its Executive Director of Marketing Karin Gardner. But when Roosdahl took over as VP of Operations, a leadership change was needed as well as a reshaping of the role.

The company said that Perkins had already been leading innovation projects over the last 10 years at the firm, and was a natural fit for the position. 

 “Through her career, and especially as our innovation lead, Garland has established herself as a creative but pragmatic strategist with the perseverance to see new opportunities through from start to finish,” Karin Gardner said. “By applying the same open-minded yet disciplined approach to the direction of our sustainability goals, Garland will doubtless guide them forward successfully into the future.” 

Furthermore, the statement credited Perkin’s work in positioning Oppy as a pioneer in shelf life extension technology through its extensive trials. “Ensuring produce has an efficient shelf life to ultimately deliver an excellent consumer experience, safeguards the need for outside interventions,” said Perkins. “It’s all in the spirit of mitigating food waste and ensuring our products are of the upmost quality.”

On the occasion that some produce, like weather-damaged fruit, is not in suitable quality for retail, Oppy’s sales and quality control teams explore every avenue to ensure no product goes to waste. 

Most often, advocates for the imperfect-looking produce trend or various wholesale customers will take fruit with cosmetic quality issues. Product that isn’t sold is donated to food banks, otherwise to animal farms. Finally, Oppy works with ReFeed Farm which extracts 100% utility from unused food by either converting to feed for livestock or creating natural fertilizer and soil amendments in a worm farm, ensuring nothing goes into the landfill.

“Oppy is keyed into the importance of sustainability and how imperative it is for surviving and thriving into the future. We have big plans and big targets: for ourselves, and for our partners, all of which I am incredibly thrilled to be a part of, and honored to be leading,” shared Perkins.