Each French person throws away on average 30 kg of food per year – the equivalent of one meal per week – including 7 kg still packaged, reveals the Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe).
Food waste: why should we reduce waste waste?
Definition and numbers
In France, food losses and waste represent 10 million tonnes of products and food per year, or an estimated commercial value of 16 billion euros.
“This waste represents unnecessary extraction of natural resources, such as arable land and water, and greenhouse gas emissions that could be avoided. The latter are evaluated by Ademe at 3% of all national emissions“, details the Public Service on its site. However, we know how precious and fragile these resources are.
What is the Garot law fighting against in France?
The anti-waste law for a circular economy aims to “objective of reducing food waste by 50% compared to its 2015 level in the areas of food distribution and collective catering by 2025 and by 50% compared to its 2015 level in the areas of consumption, production, processing and commercial catering by 2030.“
The Garot law, promulgated on February 11, 2016, supplements the provisions of the one mentioned above from 2015. Here are its two main measures:
- “the obligation for food stores of more than 400 m2 to offer a donation agreement to associations for the recovery of their unsold food items that are still consumable;
- the ban on food distributors making unsold items that are still consumable unfit for consumption“
What solutions to fight against food waste?
How to track, avoid and fight against food waste?
On the individual side, it is also possible to act to limit losses and avoid food waste while benefiting from advantages on the fridge side. Numerous applications and platforms offer solutions to preserve, recover or even revalue food.
What is the best anti-waste application?
The best anti-waste application is the one that best corresponds to your values and your desires. Identify the habit that you want to change or a need to meet and target the application or platform in question by checking that it is available on your smartphone (app store or Google play store).
Too Good To Go, Phenix: 4 anti-waste applications
1. Monitor expiration dates
Scan the barcodes of your products with Checkfood (iOS) or A Consommer (Android), and indicate their expiry date or minimum expiration date. You will receive a notification before the “fateful” date and some recipes dedicated to the foods in question to accommodate them.
2. Find tips for cooking with what you have
Take inventory of your fridge and cupboards, and collaborative apps FrigoMagic, Save Eat Or KitchenPal (iOS, Android) will suggest quick and easy recipes to please everyone and avoid throwing away food.
3. Share around you
On Jettepaspartage.fr, you can donate or collect products near your home whose expiry date is approaching. Individuals and professionals publish their donation announcements, the date and place of collection. On its site and mobile app, the Linkee associationshe invites individuals to donate or collect surplus food to give to partner solidarity associations.
4. Collect unsold items (anti-waste baskets)
Like Too Good To Go, the Phoenix app (iOS and Android) identifies food stores offering unsold items with at least 50% off. Thanks to geolocation, you receive notifications when an offer is published nearby. Interested in Too Good To Go or Phenix? All you have to do is pay online on the platform to reserve your purchase and collect your food: fruit, yogurt, vegetables… A good reflex to adopt which also protects against impulsive purchases!
Is Too Good To Go worth it? What are the disadvantages ?
To find out if an application like Too Good To Go will appeal to you, nothing beats testing it. It’s not very binding since purchasing a basket in no way obliges you to save another one later. The main disadvantage of anti-waste baskets on this app is not knowing the contents of the basket in advance. There is a chance of coming across a basket full of foods that do not correspond to your consumption habits which, in addition, creates additional consumption.