Plans to introduce a French law that bans supermarkets from destroying unsold food and obliges them to give it to charity is irritating retailers who say they already make a big effort to fight waste.
Under the law, stores of more than 400 sq m would have until July 2016 to sign contracts with charities or food banks, and to start giving them unsold produce. It follows a media campaign run by a young centre-right politician, Arash Derambarsh, who says he was outraged by the sight of homeless people last winter scrambling in supermarket bins.
A local councillor in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie, Derambarsh began his campaign by collecting the unsold food and handing it out to the needy. He then launched an online petition, which helped create momentum for the new law. While broadly welcoming the idea, charities are also wary about ending up with more food than they can handle.
“This had better not translate into a poisoned chalice,” says Olivier Berthe, president of the Restos du Coeur (Restaurants of the Heart) charity. “We cannot be made to accept donations we do not need. We cannot become rubbish dumps.” Jacques Bailet, president of the French Federation of Food Banks (FFBA), also says there is a risk charities will not be able to cope. “Our food banks are going to need more staff, more lorries, more refrigerated rooms. But to get all that, we will need money – and money is pretty scarce these days,” he says.
The FFBA already collects 35% of its donations from supermarkets, and Bailet praises retailers for their co-operation.
Source: BBC