France, the first country in the world to make food waste illegal
On the basis of this law, the community has been made aware of a problem that most countries in the world are facing, namely the enormous amount of food that is thrown away because it is not sold in supermarkets, which presents a double problem : It is one of the main sources of pollutionof the planet and question the ethics of an opulent society that produces more food than it needs while condemning those who cannot pay for it to starvation.
By Stella Álvarez
Arash Derambarsh is a French lawyer who, perhaps unplanned, started a food revolution. In 2014, as a councilor in Courbevoie, a commune northwest of Paris, he spent over a month distributing well-preserved food discarded by a supermarket in the area. His action shouldn’t stop there. He tried to draw attention to the hunger of many in his community and to confront this suffering with the enormous food waste caused by supermarkets, restaurants and fruit and vegetable processing plants.
After this first action, Arash launched a campaign through digital media and social networks with the same goals. All of his work helped promote the passage of a law by the French Parliament that has a revolutionary goal: to outlaw food waste and radically change the way food management is conceived in institutions. On the basis of this law, the community has been made aware of a problem that most countries in the world are facing, namely the enormous amount of food that is thrown away because it is not sold in supermarkets, which presents a double problem : It is one of the main sources of pollutionof the planet and question the ethics of an opulent society that produces more food than it needs while condemning those who cannot pay for it to starvation.
In particular, French law obliges supermarkets with a surface area of 400 m 2 or more to sign agreements with non-governmental organizations and food banks. Donate products that are about to expire and have not been sold. Anyone who violates this provision will be fined from 10,000 euros. The law also prohibits supermarkets from intentionally spoiling food near its sell-by date, which is a common practice in these businesses. This law had a domino effect and other European countries passed laws of similar content, each time with bolder proposals that included new social and technological tools.This is the case in Germany, England, Italy and Denmark. One of the most innovative proposals comes from Spain, which passed a law that has an additional component: it obliges restaurants to give every customer a “ dog bag ”. ” to deposit what they haven’t eaten in it so they can feed their pets.
European legislation sets an example at global level and is increasingly becoming part of packages of initiatives that go beyond the food sector to be integrated into the process of tackling climate change and supporting the energy transition.
The substance of these legislative initiatives is profound: their social and environmental impact is obvious, and they also break with the inertial thinking that food, once paid for, is individual property that each of us can do with according to our own criteria. It is a call for solidarity, rationality, not buying more than we need and loving the planet that provides us with that food.