WEB SCRIPT_France Food
Waste Script
By: Joan Martelli, Melanie Saltzman and Chris Livesay
Mark Bittman: One third of the food produced in the world rots in the field,
in transport or is simply thrown away. This is obviously not only a
massive waste of food, it’s also a big contributor to global warming because as
it decomposes in landfills it releases methane. In fact according to the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization, if food waste were its own country, it would
be the third largest emitter of greenhouses gases after the U.S. and China. One
country is doing something about food waste. NewsHour Weekend Special
Correspondent Christopher Livesay reports from Paris.This
report is supported in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.
Christopher Livesay: The French take food seriously. The country is famous for its
bread, pastries, pates and other delicacies. Lunch is so sacred here that
you’ll find many stores closed between about noon and 2, so workers can enjoy a
long relaxed mid-day meal. The French not only appreciate food, they’re
committed to not wasting it. In fact, it’s the law. Since 2016 large grocery stores
have been banned from throwing away unsold food that could be donated to
charities. Now they must have systems in place to donate that food.
We’re behind the
scenes at one of the country’s biggest grocery chains to see how France’s
landmark food-waste law works.
A truck is loaded up
with tomatoes, berries, fruit, brioche and yoghurt ...about 340 dollars worth of food close to the expiration date…food
that in most countries would be thrown away.
Christopher Livesay: They can’t sell it any more. But they say it’s still good to eat
for 5 or 6 more days.
The food is donated to
non-governmental organizations --NGOs -- and other charities who help feed the
poor.
Eric Chabert: Fruits and vegetables, it’s about 200 to 300 Euros worth that
we’re giving away everyday.
Christopher Livesay: Eric Chabert this supermarket’s director, says the law has
improved his store’s food-waste management.
Eric Chabert: It also has an impact because if we were to throw away food, we
would also increase our workload with the trash bins, which would require
additional scheduling of bins removal on site. So it’s beneficial on several
levels.
Christopher
Livesay: Another benefit of
donating food: stores can take advantage of a pre-existing tax break on as much
as 60% on the inventory value of the donated food.
Eric Chabert: It’s interesting to both be able to help NGOs and get a small
financial incentive to compensate for the fact that we’re giving away
food.
Christopher Livesay: Guillaume Garot is a member of
France’s Parliament, and the author of France's Food Waste bill. He says the
bill has substantially increased food donations from large grocery stores.
Christopher Livesay: Where did the idea come from for this law?
Guillaume Garot: I had seen reports on
French TV showing some big supermarkets were taking out trash bins with
perfectly edible food in them, seeing that food is being destroyed while at the
same time, there are people dying of hunger. So how do you fight this?
How do you fight against this scandalous way of producing to throw away? This
was the beginning for me.
Christopher Livesay: The French Federation of Food Banks agrees the law is working.
It’s a major middleman in the grocery store-to-charity food chain. Every morning
more than 2,700 supermarkets send nearly out-of-date food to nearly 80 warehouses
around the country, rescuing 46 thousand tons a year that would otherwise
be thrown away.
Donations to food
banks are up more than 20 percent according to the government.
Here at the food bank
it’s a mostly volunteer operation, and a race against the clock to collect,
sort and then distribute food while it’s still good to the thousands of local
NGOs.
Some will use the food
to PREPARE meals --- 226 million a year according to the Food Bank. Others like
the Salvation Army sort and distribute the donated food DIRECTLY to the needy.
Aline Chassagnot: The people who need some food are really happy to have some
fresh product.
Christopher Livesay: In
France, 1 out of 5 people say they have a hard time eating enough food every
day according to a recent poll. For Angela, the Salvation Army is a life saver.
She asked us not to use her last name. She has 3 kids to feed at home so she
comes here once a week to get the fresh vegetables, meat, yogurts and cheese
she says she can’t afford otherwise.
Angela: The children are young, they cannot be working. My husband and I
are unemployed. And thanks to this, we can save a little on the side. It means
a lot because before, when we didn’t know about this place, we used to spend a
lot to buy food in stores. This represents a lot because with this we are able
to live, you know.
Christopher Livesay: The law has had ripple effects...raising consumer
awareness and helping inspire new start-ups and apps like Too Good to
Go.
The app tells me about a
Paris bakery where, close to closing time, I can get what they call a magic bag
of their products for about three dollars and thirty cents, a sizable discount.
So for three Euros, three euros, I got. Let’s
start with the pain au chocolat. I’ve got some
croissants in here, Got a loaf of bread, looks
delicious, and got what looks like a really good ham sandwich!
The law is the first of
its kind in the world. But for all it’s positive effects, it has been
criticized for not ensuring that all stores are complying. It calls for stiff
penalties (about 4,000 dollars) each time a store is caught throwing away
donatable food, but so far no one has been fined.
Some of the critics
include NGOs themselves, who say they sometimes get food they can’t use.
Christopher Livesay: I’m not sure I would be comfortable eating a yellow broccoli
We saw for ourselves.
Broccoli sent by one grocery store was not fit to eat. Aline Chassagnot is a social coordinator with the Salvation Army.
Aline Chassagnot: They must be green, not yellow.
Christopher Livesay: Okay, so what do you do with this?
Aline Chassagnot: Normally it must go to the, to the garbage.
On this day, we saw
three trash bins of food thrown away.
Christopher Livesay: Presumably, the supermarket that donated that food received a tax
benefit regardless. So the question is how do you make sure that supermarkets
and other participants aren’t gaming the system?
Guillaume Garot: It’s very clear that
products arriving at the NGO when the consumption date has expired...fresh
products especially...must not be donated.There is no
doubt a need to intensify checks, public checks, on the way large supermarkets
are donating.
Christopher Livesay: Another problem, says Manon Cuillé,
coordinator of an NGO called “Zero Waste,” is that the law fails to address
sources of food waste other than grocery stores.
Manon Cuille/Zero Waste: for us there are many more solutions and measures to be adopted to
prevent this food waste in the first place
Christopher Livesay: According to France’s National Environmental Agency, retail and
distribution -- including grocery stores -- only accounts for 14% of food waste
in France.
Agriculture accounts for
32 percent, followed by food processing at 21 percent and consumers at 19
percent. Restaurants contribute 14 percent.
None of these other
sources are addressed in the law. As such, Cuille
says she doubts the French government can meet its goal when it comes to
reducing food waste.
Manon Cuille: They
have a pretty ambitious goal, which is to reduce by 50 percent food waste
before 2025. They’re still lacking. A lot of important obligations for agriculture
and food industry. Also promote more education for the consumer or in schools.
Guillaume Garot: I do believe we need to
widen the actors involved in fighting food waste.
Christopher Livesay: It’s a global problem, says Garot.
And France aspires
to be a model for the world.
Guillaume Garot: Today, countries as
different as Peru, Finland, Malaysia but also some countries in Africa, are
closely looking at what we’ve been doing in France. So what’s important is to
act together in the same direction.
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TIMECODE |
LOWER
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1 |
01:50 |
ERIC CHABERT CASINO SUPERMARKET |
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02:11 |
GUILLAUME GAROT MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT |
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03:22 |
ALINE CHASSAGNOT SALVATION ARMY |
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04:27 |
CHRISTOPHER LIVESAY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
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06:53 |
MANON CUILLE ZERO WASTE |
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