France Bans Food Waste From Supermarkets

Food waste has been a controversial topic around the world for decades. It is estimated that more than 1.3 million tonnes of food are discarded each year. At the same time, there are people who die of malnutrition and hunger every single day.

Attempts have been made for many years to reduce this number, but results of studies show that there is still a significant waste of food every year.

The main criticism of the big distributors is  that a significant amount of their food ends up being thrown away instead of being donated to the needy.

Last year, 35-year-old Arash Derambarsh proposed creating a law to prevent supermarkets from throwing away food.

The idea Arash put forward was that companies should donate their unsold foods to charities and food banks so that they can be distributed to those in need.

Following a massive campaign backed by consumers and activists fighting poverty, the French Senate passed the law unanimously, benefiting thousands of homeless people.

France, the first place in the world to ban food waste

This decision made France the first country in the world to prevent supermarkets from throwing away or destroying food.

Establishments of more than 400 square meters will be asked to sign donation contracts with charities. Failure to do so will result in fines of up to 75,000 euros or two years in prison.

This was good news for the charities, because this increases the quality and diversity of food that they are allowed to distribute.

Jacques Bailet, head of the French food bank network, expressed hope that the new law would increase the donation of vegetables, fruit and meat, as it is these foods that are most needed.

The responsibility for collecting and storing food will fall on the registered charities and food banks, which hope to get more employees so that they can manage the new influx of food more efficiently.

The law will also punish supermarkets that intentionally destroy food. This is a practice that has become more common to prevent people from rummaging in the trash and containers.

Unfortunately, the number of families, students and the unemployed who look in containers to find food that is being thrown away because it has almost expired has increased in recent years.

The downside is that in many places the food is sprayed with bleach after they have been thrown away. According to them, this will prevent someone from eating it and getting food poisoning in these cases.

Others store food waste in private department stores where it is later collected by garbage trucks.

The next challenges for charities

With this initial achievement, charities are preparing to meet the challenges that come with changing the law.

The first will be to find more available volunteers who can help manage and distribute food. They will also need more trucks, storage and refrigerators to handle the increase in donations.

On the other hand, the main goal is to persuade the EU to consider adopting a similar solution in other member states.

Food waste in France consists of 11% from shops, 67% from consumers and 15% from restaurants. Organizers of this initiative understand that there is still a lot of work to be done.

But with legislation, they know they have already taken one of the most important steps towards a more conscious and sustainable society.

Bailet ensures that a 15% increase in donations from supermarkets can help deliver 10 million more barrels of food each year.

The long-term dream is that many countries will introduce similar laws to reduce food waste. But above all to give them an opportunity to feed those in need.