French food waste rules are tough (illegal!)
Here’s a bit of a political rant! Why in England do we still have so much food waste, yet in France, it’s been illegal (for over 10 years) to throw away edible food? The French laws push retailers to donate unsold items to charities rather than send them to the bin.
Back in England, the government has still (10 years after the ruling in France) not banned supermarkets from throwing away edible food, at a time when so many people go hungry. Despite a paltry pledge to ‘halve food waste by 2030’, despite throwing out around 100,000 tons of edible food each year.
If like in France, supermarkets faced hefty fines for throwing away edible food, they would stop. So why does the government not get its act together, and bring in similar laws immediately?
All that has happened is a law that means all councils in England, must now provide weekly food waste bins, to increase recycling rates. And that’s obviously not working.
Why ban food waste in supermarkets?
It is true that most food waste in England is caused by households throwing out food (we have heaps of posts on this site on how to avoid that – just use our search box!)
But major supermarkets are also in hock, by not using their vast profits to come up with solutions like Karma fridges (where food about to go out-of-date could be sold at vending machines at huge discounts). Or just donating it to local charities that feed hungry people.
Supermarkets are out to make vast profits, they don’t care about the community. They also in recent years have hiked up prices on everyday goods (like apples and rice) but kept prices of luxury goods (like champagne) the same.
Food waste is not only appalling (there is enough food thrown out each year to feed every hungry person on earth). But when it goes on landfills, it emits methane gas, which is contributing to climate change.
And it also insults farmers – who spend months growing food, that is then simply thrown away, just because it’s the wrong shape, size or colour.
