The French have a few things just right: bread, wine, cheese, (lurve), not to mention their amazing sense of fashion.
But now it seems the nation has gone one step further into being the greatest trendsetters: they’re cutting down on supermarket waste. A new law has just been passed that now bans supermarkets from throwing away any leftover waste and instead, they must either give it away to charities or, if it is not safe for humans, they must donate it for animal feed.
This is to tackle food wastage and the epidemic of poverty that is sweeping France at the moment, who on average waste an estimated seven million tonnes of food each year. The new measures will make France the leading country in Europe trying to combat food wastage and restrict a system in which food producers were legally obliged to destroy any out-of-date products.
(Image dredit: FoodBev)
So why is food waste so bad?
There are 795 million people in the world who are currently living without access to adequate food. It’s a shocking statistic then that the average French person throws out 20kg-30kg of food a year – 7kg of which is still in its wrapping.
Food wastage also has a huge negative impact on the environment. Food which is left to rot in landfill is, according to the National Resource Defence Council, responsible for up to 25% of methane emissions in the US alone.
Even though this is country wide legislation, it’s important to start with the individual. So how can you help prevent further, unnecessary food wastage?
Now I know that I am not the only one who is guilty of accidentally leaving a bag full of stir fry veggies in the bottom of the fridge and a week later (gagging uncontrollably) throwing them into the bin. But when you actually think about it, that’s a bag full of food that has gone uneaten. A bag, full of vegetables, that could have made a meal.
Once you start to think about how much you are wasting (that leftover chinese anyone?) it immediately becomes apparent that as people we are all terrible at being frugal with food.
(Photo credit: www.foodlogistics.com)
So if you’re ever in that pickle again, where your eyes are bigger than your stomach, there are some great food sharing apps out there that can help to reduce waste.
The LeftoverSwap (although at the moment mainly concentrated in London) is a brilliant app from which you can post a picture of your leftover food so that locals in the nearby area can have them instead. Although food sharing is just part of a much bigger solution it’s a brilliant way to start reducing your own waste.
Despite the fact that this new legislation against food wastage has only been implemented in France, it’s a major moment for the world wide community.
By trying to change the way in which we eat and consume perishable foods, the way we treat the expiry date on a day-old sandwich, we can try and tackle a problem that is only going to get worse.