#stoptherot

https://unitedforclimate.blogspot.com/2024/08/stop-rot-international-free-resources.html

https://lnkd.in/eXCCr_J9 https://lnkd.in/eyMd3Z2E STOP THE ROT INTERNATIONAL FREE RESOURCES UPDATED 22 November 2022

https://lnkd.in/ebJ_9bbk https://lnkd.in/eKtjHBgi STOP THE ROT INTERNATIONAL FREE RESOURCES UPDATED 13 November 2022 #civilresistance #withoutviolence #climatetippingpoints #costoflivingclimatejustice

France has brought through a momentous piece of legislation forcing supermarkets to give away unsold food, and banning them from destroying any food products fit for consumption.

French local councilor Arash Derambarsh and endorser of Stop the Rot campaign said this is ‘a historic victory’ and highlighted that ‘it is extremely rare for a law to be passed so quickly and with unanimous support’. Derambarsh’s ‘Manifeste contre le gaspillage’ has been pushing the issue of food waste in the French Assembly, and Arash himself speaks from his own personal experience of going hungry while a student living off £280 a month.

This campaign has only been running since December 2014, but Arash’s tireless efforts to integrate social action, public mood and political will have made it incredibly swift and effective. This law will include education programmes for schools and businesses and feed into France’s plan to reduce food waste by 50% by 2025.

Originally introduced as an amendment into the law for ‘Energy Transition’ in April 2015, the food waste element was then dropped in August due to late submission . The resubmission has now been given the green light with unanimous support across political divides. Now Arash has set his sights on an EU level regulation on food waste in supermarkets.

But, how did they get here and what about us in the UK?

The UK is seen by many in Europe to be a leader on food waste policies; this is more a reflection of the weakness of regulation in Europe than of a strong-arm UK. Our national voluntary commitment, the Courtauld Commitment is seen by industry actors to be an international example, but this leaves a lot of space for wriggle-room on food waste obscuring targets behind broader packaging targets and pushing responsibility on to consumers and producers wherever possible.

France has experienced a shift in recent years as public mood has shifted around regulation and restrictions on ugly fruit and veg, which was emphasized by the Intermarche campaign les fruite et legumes moches combining healthy eating campaigns with irregular shaped fruit and veg.

As we start to question the perfection of fruit and vegetables in the UK too, we need powerful campaigns like this to capture public mood. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s War on Waste campaign is highlighting the inaction of UK supermarkets on this issue.

What is most compelling about this French regulation is the unanimous cross-party support. Here in the UK we are seeing a similar reaction in government, food waste is an issue of resource efficiency and business as much as it is one of justice and welfare, and this is bringing all sides of the political divide together. Much of the power in the UK movement on food waste resides in action against poverty and food bank redistribution, just yesterday the latest Feeding Britain report detailed the extent of this issue across the nation. It is naturally common sense to see this excessive waste at supermarket level and connect it with an urgent need with a growing number of UK citizens in poverty.

In France the Manifeste contre le gaspillage is only dealing with the food wasted at the point of sale, something very tangible for the public, but as our campaign highlights; retailer in-store food waste is very low in the mix of wastes through the supply chain (BRC suggest 1.3%). The important thing is to note the responsibility for causing the waste, something that the Big 4 UK supermarkets have an enormous power over.

The protestation of supermarket representatives in France reminds us of the responses of UK supermarkets who tussle to avoid any form of government and public involvement in their affairs. Supermarkets operate largely outside of regulatory mechanisms in the UK, and we can see from a 78% reduction in plastic bag use inside 2 months, regulation works. The power of this move in France demonstrates a first step on the long road to reigning in the corporate excesses of our big food businesses.