France is stepping up its fight against food waste, aiming to halve the millions of tonnes of edible food that end up in the bin. With households and businesses still wasting vast amounts of food, the country is hoping that tougher laws and creative solutions will help curb a problem that’s hurting both wallets and the environment.
Food waste represents 3 percent of France's annual carbon footprint. Under French law, it’s defined as “any food intended for human consumption which, at any stage of the food chain, is lost, discarded or damaged”.
The country wastes 10 million tonnes of food, valued at €16 billion, each year. Households account for 39 percent of that waste – far more than producers (22 percent), agro-industrial processing (14 percent) and restaurants (12 percent).
Laws requiring supermarkets to donate unsold food have only done so much, with ordinary folk remaining the least efficient link in the food waste chain.
"I often find myself throwing away vegetables that have expired in my fridge because I didn't have time to cook them," Nikola Krtolica, a 40-something resident of Paris, told RFI.
"I hate throwing away food, and when I shop I try not to buy too much – but my schedule is so unpredictable that I struggle to stay organised."
Each person in France throws away an average of 25 kilos of edible food per year, a recent study by the online platform Too Good to Go found.
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EU checks
The government is pursuing some big goals to tackle the problem. It wants shops and canteens to halve waste by 2025 compared to 2015 levels. For homes, farms and food makers, that target is to be achieved by 2030.
The laws are not just French though; they’re part of a broader European Union plan. Every year, the EU monitors and quantifies the efforts of its member countries, assessing their progress and compliance.
Apps like Too Good to Go seek to slash food waste by connecting consumers with retailers offering unsold food at a discount.
"Today, I'm a bit in a hurry," said Pauline Brutus, opening the app on her smartphone in a neighbourhood in northern Paris. It's almost noon and she's looking for a ready-made lunch. These are yesterday's dishes, offered at knock-down prices.
For Brutus, the fight against food waste is a personal mission.
"I've travelled a lot. And I've seen people who lacked even the most basic food. I think we're lucky to live in a country where we can have everything at our fingertips," she added.
"Giving ourselves the luxury of throwing food in the bin is really a shame. So if I can save a meal waiting at a shop rather than them throwing it away, that's good."
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Changing mindsets
Food waste is of course an environmental challenge as well as an ethical one. In France, the food wasted each week uses up 1.3 km² of farmland and the equivalent of two bathtubs of water for every person.
In 2013, France rolled out a National Pact to Combat Food Waste, making it the first European country to ban the waste of food by retailers.
The move led to several new laws aimed at changing mindsets across the food industry. They included banning the destruction of consumable products and requiring unsold items to be donated to food aid groups.
Supermarket chain Carrefour says it is proactively removing items from shelves that have passed their sell-by date but are still perfectly good to eat.
“We create packs filled with fruit and vegetables, cold meats, and mixed selections that include salad, yoghurts and juice,” said Amina Mohamed Abdou, the deputy manager of one Paris store.
“These packs are priced between three and eight euros, yet they contain products valued at over 20 euros.”
Amid soaring food prices, the anti-waste bundles are in high demand.
“Most of our customers are locals, but even our employees regularly set aside some of these packs,” Abdou told RFI. “It means less food ends up in the bin. And at the same time, it helps people who don't have much money to eat healthily and with good products.”
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Creative reuse
This focus on reducing food waste resonates with artisan bakers like Arnaud Delmontel, who has long made it a priority. He’s developed creative ways to reuse unsold goods, including turning leftover pastries into new delicacies.
"Since time immemorial, pastry chefs have invented recipes that allow them to reuse products while maintaining quality," he said.
"A Polish brioche, for example, is a brioche that hasn't been sold. We cut it in half, toast it, dip it in syrup, add pastry cream with raisins and candied fruit. So it continues to be a good product."
Delmontel also sells his day-old breads at half price. In his upmarket Parisian patisserie, all products are organic, and plastic bags and cutlery are banned. Despite facing "far less food waste than large-scale distribution", he insists on keeping waste to a strict minimum.
The Too Good to Go app allows him to attract new customers.
"We're in a neighbourhood where the residents are between 30 and 60 years old and have a certain lifestyle. But from 8.25pm onwards, young people hang around the shop with this app," Delmontel said.
“They look like students, yet this isn't a student neighbourhood. But they come to look for what hasn't been sold. This may help to build customer loyalty later on."
This story was adapted from the original French by Stefanie Schüler.
