<aside> ♻️ France is the world's most food sustainable country, most recently passing legislation in 2016 requiring supermarkets to redistribute leftover food to charities as part of a set of proposals published in 2015 against food waste.
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They've also implemented a agroecology policy, which its agriculture ministry says "aims to shift agriculture towards the objective of combining economic, environmental and social performance." The ministry expects that by 2025 most French farmers will sign on to the concept, which includes practices such as rotating crops to improve soil fertility and cutting reliance on chemical fertiliser.
Back in 2015, city councillor Arash Derambarsh, launched a petition on change.org urging an end to food waste in France, arguing that poor and middle-income people struggle to get by on a daily basis, while supermarkets each waste an average of more than 20 kg of food every day. The petition demanded legislation to solve the issue and received more than 210,000 signatures. Its timing was serendipitous: it went through just as France prepared to host the Paris climate conference in December 2015. Campaigners now hope to introduce the legislation at a European level.
The supermarket law is part of a broader set of proposals, published in 2015, laying out a national policy against food waste. The programme of reform outlines 36 measures across three categories: stakeholder responsibilities, public policy tools, and mechanisms to help forge a new model of development.
Among all countries food wastage occurs at all stages of the supply chain. In developing countries it most occurs early on with production and storage losses accounting for between two-thirds of loss in South and Southeast Asia, and three-quarters in sub-Saharan Africa. Developed regions face a different type of challenge with more than half of food thrown out at the consumption stage, according to research by the World Resources Institute. France has responded to these problems by creating a new ministerial position focusing on agro-food systems.
<aside> 🔑 Among the 36 proposals French policy-makers outlined, reaching the public may be key.
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By 2025, any organization producing waste above a given threshold will be required to direct those resources to their highest possible use, in the following order: recovery of edible food for human consumption, animal feed, industrial uses, anaerobic digestion, and composting. Retailers will have a legal obligation to reduce, reuse, or recycle their extra food, with financial sanctions if they do not comply. For the remaining unsold products, grocery stores will have to donate them when they are edible. When not edible, organic waste will have to be recycled.
It is common practice for stores to put bleach on their discarded food to make sure it is not recovered. The bill passed by the French Parliament in July 2015 makes it illegal for stores to destroy edible products. State inspectors will monitor this to ensure that products are destroyed only in cases of real food safety risk. Otherwise, stores may receive a fine equivalent to US$4,000.
At the consumer level, France seeks to offer "lifelong education about sustainable food," addressing the food waste in school curricula beginning in primary school. What's more, they plan to create a dedicated public agency to implement food waste policies across the entire supply chain.
Another recommendation offered by the French government are the opportunities to create jobs through food waste reduction. For example, socially oriented businesses that transform surplus food—making jam, soup, and other products—can generate jobs that facilitate the integration and employment of marginalized populations in part through employment contracts that are partially subsidized by the French government.
Finally, to emphasize cooperation, a financial mechanism encourages local waste management entities (generally municipalities) to use 1 percent of their revenues to fund cooperation and development projects that address waste pollution. A similar mechanism could be set up for food waste.
https://foodsustainability.eiu.com/france/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/france-is-most-food-sustainable-country-u-s-and-u-k-faltering
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/france-food-waste-policy-report.pdf
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