France makes it illegal for big supermarkets to waste food

That's the way to do it!

France has also led the way in getting rid of poly bags. You cannot get flimsy carrier bags in supermarkets, you can only buy heavy duty bags for life. We have to take our own bags even if we go the DIY store.

Sainsburys will be charging 5p a bag from September, even more incentive to reuse bags. I imagine more supermarkets will follow suit.

I bought some large and very substantial carrier bags in an Italian supermarket and after three years they're still going strong.
If only we had them here, they are virtually indestructible and made from recycled plastic.

Isn't it!

Well done, France! I hope we follow suit immediately.

I saw this on Facebook and it is certainly getting many likes. Well done France.

loopylou the UK bags for life may not be indestructible but supermarkets will replace them free of charge when they become damaged.

There was a programme about it on French telly the other night. They were saying that half of all the fresh fish caught for sale is thrown away. When you think of the problems of over-fishing and shortages that is appalling.

I do have some UK bags for life but the Italian ones are vastly superior in design and durability (I know UK ones can be replaced foc, but in comparison they're flimsy) and size.

They probably hold three or four times as much, have a wide base and are substantially made, untearable, with very strong fabric handles, I use them for not only shopping but lugging stuff to the charity shop, for picnics, just about anything really. They came into good use when DD moved house, carrying books etc.

It will be interesting to see how much charities can pass on. Presumably that which they cannot will be dumped. It might depend on how much they charge, or whether it is redistributed for free.
I would assume that other countries will watch this with interest.

How exactly are French supermarkets going to stop food being wasted? Will they have to give it away at the end of the day? Make a huge stew and dole it out? What is the legal definition of 'large'? Is there a risk that they might stop stocking perishable goods? What will be the knock on effect for suppliers especially the small ones? So much to consider.

We have those sturdy bags in France too loopylou - with pictures of local landmarks on them; they are indeed great for carting all manner of stuff (I have been known to use them to carry my clothes for a week in England).
It will be interesting to see how the new initiative is managed. There is quite a long tradition of gleaning in France; there is a fabulous Agnes Varda film called "les glaneuses et moi", I think it is available as The Gleaners and I in English.

mamie I love that word "gleaning" I haven't heard it in ages.

Well done France! We should put pressure on our government to follow suit. My DH works in the Co-op and despairs at the amount of perfectly good food that is thrown away. Before the advent of the big supermarkets he had his own grocery business, and didn't waste anything. At Christmas, when the shop was closed for two or three days, he would send the staff out into the street with bargain offers of the perishable goods. He never wasted anything.

It is a really fascinating film GK; people who glean in the fields, some who collect stuff from skips and rubbish dumps and some who find left-over food outside restaurants. She is such a gentle, sympathetic director.

gleaning, I think it originated from people going over a cornfield after harvesting the crops, picking up any loose corn. I haven't heard it since my farmer FIL talked about everyone in the village doing it why he was a boy in the early 1900's.

It's obscene wasting so much food; any initiative to put and end to the waste must be encouraged.

Hilda that's a great story too.

I was thinking the other day - we buy food in supermarkets to put into their food bank collection baskets, whilst they are throwing food away. Doesn't make sense.

I think the French initiative includes that non-perishable goods will no longer have a best before date.

mamie I think I've posted this before on here - in SA, local women collect paper and cardboard from suburban homes, and they are paid by weight for their haul - gathered on street corners to await the recycling truck on given days. So - work and a source of income for these women, cost savings by the Council (fewer employees needed), every last bit of cardboard recycled.

The joke is - because they were paid in weight, it was not uncommon to offer the use of your hosepipe to wet the stack of cardboard before the truck arrived.

Reusable bags and not wasting food are 2 different topics.

Gleaning, loopylou, that pokes a stick at old memories. It used to come up a church or rather Sunday school when I was little. I seem to think it was the story of Ruth which would explain my memory of it as it was always one on my favourites. I think allowing gleaning in the field was one of the Jewish laws of charity but that is all I can remember.

It does beg the question though whether the new rich employers (supermarket bosses) should not have moral pressure put on them to ensure they pass on the "gleanings".

soontobe I seem to remember reading that this is already happening here in some areas with end of day fresh produce and it goes straight to "soup kitchen" restaurants where they are turned into food for that day.

I know there is a shop in the north where they sell supermarket items that don't get past the "must be perfect test" so would otherwise not leave the factory. To shop there you have to be a member (I imagine showing you are on particular benefits) and the money they raise goes back into the membership for education, guidance and help into work. I think there was something on Women's Hour about it although it may have been another programme.

I'm also impressed with our local Co-op - stuff is marked down the day before it's "due date", rather than on the day. I like it that their mark down stickers read "still fresh". Waitrose on the other hand, leave it till the last.

That should be its. (Thanks, kindle :P)

In Waitrose this morning I asked what happened to their wasted food. Apparently it is put into blue containers and sent off to be turned into fuel. I don't know how or where, I didn't ask as I didn't want to hold up the night supervisor. (He was very busy, he always is).

This really is the way forward, isn't it? I always get so incensed at reports that "x amount of food is wasted each year per person in the UK" because the vast majority of it is the supermarket waste, not the individual throwing it in the bin.
And that which we do throw away as individuals is usually because
a) we are encouraged to buy more than we need (bogofs)
b) we are forced to buy more than we need (pre-packaged goods)
c) we think the food is unusable because of the BBD printed on the packaging
All of the above are supermarket led. My sister's local supermarket only sells pre-packed cooked meats and other items - fresh produce and so on. She lives on her own and may only want one slice of ham but she is unable to buy it, so she either has to overeat or throw some away.
Let's hope the UK - and indeed the rest of the EU - takes note and quickly follows suit.

38 degrees is on the case regarding food waste and has set up a petition. I'll post a lonk later - don't know how to do it on my phone