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The supermarket idea that could save us money and stop waste: Would you support it?

Dec 18, 2015

It wasn’t just carbon emissions being debated in Paris last week, French MPs unanimously voted to end food waste in supermarkets, granting the government the power to force supermarkets in the country to give away unsold food that has reached its sell-by date.

The law was originally proposed in May but faced a challenge; it has now been passed.

Supermarkets will also be banned from destroying food that is still edible – specifically, the practice of soaking food in bleach has been prohibited, the Guardian reports.

The law will come into effect after it has been formally approved by the upper house of the French parliament, on 13 January, and the legislation was described in the house as a “crucial measure for the planet”.

It’s extremely rare for a law to be passed so quickly through the French parliament, especially with unanimous support.

Under the new law, ordinary French people can set up associations to collect an distribute the unsold food. Campaigners hope to see the legislation rolled out across the EU and eventually, the world.

In France, an estimated 7.1m tonnes of food are wasted.

Here in Australia, we waste up to $5.2 billion of food each year. RMIT’s Dianne McGrath told Food Magazine the average Australian household throws out about 20 per cent of the food they buy from supermarkets, greengrocers and other stores.

“[This] is equivalent to one in every five bags of groceries or $1,036 per household annually,” Ms McGrath said.

“While a number of supermarkets donate small amounts of still consumable food to food rescue organisations such as FareShare, Foodbank, OzHarvest, and SecondBite to help feed the hungry, too much perfectly good food is thrown in supermarket dumpsters every day.”

That’s not to say efforts aren’t being made. Woolworths has pursued a policy of moving to zero food waste to landfill by the end of this year, donating to Foodbank and Ozharvest, or giving food to zoos or to be made into fertiliser.

Similarly, ALDI Australia said it’s committed to minimising food wastage.

“We have a number of processes and policies in place to ensure that very little food sold on our shelves ends up as waste,” an ALDI spokesperson told Food Magazine. “In 2014 we donated 990,688 kilograms of food to OzHarvest, which equates to 2,972,064 meals. Donated food includes, fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, raw meat, drinks, desserts, pastries and dry goods.”