Jonathan Bloom
The French take their food seriously and now significant cultural and political shifts have confirmed that they don’t look too kindly on wasting it.
In mid-April, a government-appointed committee released a proposal to tackle food waste in France. The Fight Against Food Waste (Lutte Contre Le Gaspillage Alimentaire; follow with #GaspillageAlimentaire) suggests 36 ways to do just that.
‘It’s the first proposition for a comprehensive national policy on food waste that brings together a lot of different potential measures to reduce food waste throughout the whole food chain,’ said Marie Mourad, a PhD student at Sciences Po in Paris writing her dissertation on initiatives around food waste.
French MP Guillaume Garot – who isn’t afraid of mixing it up at wasted-food charity kitchen Disco Soupe – led the committee in proposing a variety of measures. One of the most powerful ideas is the suggested ban on supermarkets throwing away food, which comes after a related 200,000-signature petition. That idea, together with mandatory donations to charities that request the food and extended tax deductions for donations, could change the excess food equation in retail.
Far-reaching policy would handle inedible excess, involving the creation of a food waste hierarchy: feeding animals, then creating energy, and finally composting.
‘Freegans’ may encounter empty dumpsters if all of the above policies happen, but their actions may have legal protections, thanks to a proposal that would essentially make dumpster diving legal. Following a recent, high-profile case in France, this idea would offer clemency to dumpster divers under a proposed ‘recovering is not stealing’ ordinance.
Meanwhile, building on supermarket giant Intermarché’s popular Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables campaign, the report pushes for more markets for nontraditional produce. And at the farm level, there are several proposals to promote and sustain gleaning of unharvested crops.
The report suggests adapting the size of restaurant portions to consumers’ needs and encouraging a pay-by-weight option, two ideas that seem as un-French as they are interesting.
The annual cost of food waste in France, according to the report, is more than US$22.4 billion annually, and about US$450 for the average family. In that context and with a strong tradition of gleaning – celebrated in art and film – France is exhibiting an appetite for curbing food waste. To which I say, ‘Bon appétit!’
How much change is French culture willing to stomach? The best indicator may come from an unlikely source – a proposal to mainstream ‘le doggy-bag’. As in most of Europe, taking leftovers home from restaurants tends to be viewed as, er, a bit gauche.
The practice faces a ‘cultural obstacle,’ Garot told the press, but 75 per cent of those polled recently said they’d like to take food home from restaurants. In that changed milieu, the main question may be whether to use the French sac-à-emporter (literally, ‘to-go bag’) or a hybrid term like ‘le doggy-bag’ or ‘le gourmet bag’.
While Americans are miles ahead in loving restaurant leftovers – or at least taking them home – US policymakers would do well to emulate both the ideas and esprit of this new French food waste movement. And then, on both sides of the Atlantic, we may soon bond over the shared values of ‘Liberté, égalité, le Doggy.’
First published on foodtank.com. Jonathan Bloom is an author and journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. Bloom began researching food waste in 2005 while volunteering at DC Central Kitchen, where he also learned about gleaning, the process of gathering crops left in the field after harvest. This work led him to publish American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It) in 2010.
Postscript: As reported by AFP, France’s parliament voted unanimously last week to ban food waste in big supermarkets, notably by outlawing the destruction of unsold food products.
Under the new legislation, supermarkets will have to take measures to prevent food waste and will be forced to donate any unsold but still edible food goods to charity or for use as animal feed or farming compost.
All large-sized supermarkets will have to sign contracts with a charity group to facilitate food donations. The government is hoping to slice food waste in half by 2025.
Food waste is a lose-lose situation for the environment, the struggling families in today’s tough economy and for the food retailers.
Fortunately, there are new ways to avoid unsold food waste.
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An example of such an application is the “End Grocery Waste” App. This GS1 DataBar based application encourages efficient consumer shopping behavior that makes fresh food affordable for all families, maximizes grocery retailer revenue, and effectively reduces the global carbon footprint.
The Zero Waste Scotland doggy bag pilot report was released recently- http://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/sites/files/zws/Good%20to%20Go%20Pilot%20Report.pdf – generally positive though raising questions about whether such a scheme should be tax-funded. It produced changes in the way restaurants perceived and served food by drawing attention to portion size etc and enabling conversations among staff about this. While the packaging impacts were considered in the GHG savings calculations, I’ve at times asked to take home leftovers and found myself with a giant polystyrene box and various accoutrements whose impact far outweighs the benefits of me eating the food- so to bear in mind unintended consequences of doggy bag use should be borne in mind!