In December the French government passed a law banning supermarkets from throwing away unsold food. The law requires stores there to donate unwanted food to charities or food banks.
Last week that law went into effect. Take note, rest of the world.
The Independent reported, “This law was voted unanimously by the French senate after a petition was launched by Courbevoie councillor Arash Derambarsh.”
Derambarsh described the move as “a historic victory.” He told the Guardian, “It’s extremely rare for a law to be passed so quickly and with unanimous support.”
Apparently before this ruling, dumpster diving was a significant problem for supermarkets in France. Some stores opted to destroy expired food by pouring bleach over it rather than see it reach hungry mouths. But those days are behind France.
With the new law, individuals will be allowed to set up associations with the approval of the agriculture ministry, to collect and distribute food. Derambarsh said, “It means that ordinary citizens can show their solidarity and help distribute this food to those who need it.” He called the act of wasting food and deliberately making it unfit for consumption while the homeless and poor go hungry as “scandalous and absurd.”
How much food are we talking about here? From the Guardian: “An estimated 7.1m tonnes of food are binned in France each year –11% by shops. The figure for across the European Union is 89m tonnes, while an estimated 1.3bn tonnes are wasted worldwide.”
Read more:
Last week that law went into effect. Take note, rest of the world.
The Independent reported, “This law was voted unanimously by the French senate after a petition was launched by Courbevoie councillor Arash Derambarsh.”
Derambarsh described the move as “a historic victory.” He told the Guardian, “It’s extremely rare for a law to be passed so quickly and with unanimous support.”
Apparently before this ruling, dumpster diving was a significant problem for supermarkets in France. Some stores opted to destroy expired food by pouring bleach over it rather than see it reach hungry mouths. But those days are behind France.
With the new law, individuals will be allowed to set up associations with the approval of the agriculture ministry, to collect and distribute food. Derambarsh said, “It means that ordinary citizens can show their solidarity and help distribute this food to those who need it.” He called the act of wasting food and deliberately making it unfit for consumption while the homeless and poor go hungry as “scandalous and absurd.”
How much food are we talking about here? From the Guardian: “An estimated 7.1m tonnes of food are binned in France each year –11% by shops. The figure for across the European Union is 89m tonnes, while an estimated 1.3bn tonnes are wasted worldwide.”
Read more:
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