Writting sample- Food Waste Policy Adoption

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Food Waste Prevention in France and its Potential Adoption in the United States Description of the Policy It is estimated that over one-third of all food produced ends up in landfills (Cederberg, Gustavsson, & Sonesson, 2011). Although food waste does decompose, this decomposition creates methane, a gas that contributes to climate change. To combat this issue and meet the EU’s Sustainable Development Goal of food waste reduction, in February of 2016, France adopted a food waste prevention policy (Albizzati, Tonini, Chammard, & Astrup, 2019). This policy targets the retail sector and aims to decrease food waste throughout France. Within this policy, large grocery stores are banned from throwing away food that could otherwise be donated or re-purposed. The food that is safe to eat is donated to local charities and all other food turns into animal feed or compost which benefits local farmers. To hold the grocery stores accountable, the law requires stores to sign contracts with charities regarding donation distribution (Eubanks, 2019). However, the stores that refuse to cooperate with the law and do not sign contracts can face fines up to $75,000 (Beardsley, 2018). As an incentive for stores to participate, “stores can take advantage of a pre-existing tax break on as much as 60% on the inventory value of the donated food”(Saltzman, Livesay, Martelli, & Gouffran, PBS, 2019). This legislation also emphasizes consumer awareness of food waste through local awareness programs and school curricula (Mourad, 2015). Advantages of the Policy With France’s policy on food waste, the country has seen numerous benefits. Since implementing the policy, France’s ranking on the food sustainability index has risen sharply and remains high. This index examines factors such as food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges to determine how a country's food system is performing (Economist Impact, 2021). France’s policy was the first of its kind and accordingly, other countries have followed in creating food waste policies. Environmentally speaking, this policy has reduced the amount of food waste that goes into French landfills. Retail food waste accounts for about 14% of the country's food waste (Saltzman, Livesay, Martelli, & Gouffran, PBS, 2019). By decreasing the retail sector’s food waste contribution, greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced. Similarly, with less food waste going into the garbage, participating grocery stores have experienced improved waste management as the garbage bins require less frequent pickups (Saltzman, Livesay, Martelli, & Gouffran, PBS, 2019). This policy has seen various social benefits as well, specifically helping those in need. Because of this policy, lower-income individuals have increased access to more plentiful and nutritious meals (Albizzati, Tonini, Chammard, & Astrup, 2019). “Donated supermarket food has benefited more than 5,000 new organizations, and the number of donated meals increased by more than 10 million as compared to previous years” (Eubanks, 2019, pg 679). Consumer awareness of poverty and sustainability has been impacted by this policy as well. Because of France’s policy, from primary school to high school, students are taught topics relating to sustainability and food waste. Also, local awareness programs are present as well to educate other non-student consumers (Mourad, 2015). Through education and awareness, this policy helps to make reducing food waste mainstream. Disadvantages of the Policy Despite its high ranking in the Sustainability Index, this policy only addresses one sector of the food waste issue. “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.

Food Waste Prevention in France and its Potential Adoption in the United States Restaurants contribute 14 percent” (Saltzman, Livesay, Martelli, & Gouffran, PBS, 2019). Another disadvantage of this policy is its lack of quality control regarding grocery store donation distribution. Because of the tax credit, some large grocery stores will send whatever food they can to charities, regardless of the quality and consumption date. Because there is no quality control when accepting donations, even if a store donated food that is unfit for consumption, the companies still receive the tax credit and the food goes to waste (Saltzman, Livesay, Martelli, & Gouffran, PBS, 2019). Adoption in the United States The United States needs to immediately implement policies to encourage or mandate food waste reduction. Although the EPA announced a food waste reduction plan in 2015, the United States is still one of the biggest contributors of food waste worldwide (Chandler, 2016). In the United States, food waste is the biggest occupant in landfills as roughly 50 percent of all grocery store produce is wasted (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2022). Although Frances’s policy only targets the retail sector, one targeted sector would be a step in the right direction to reduce food waste overall. The United State’s lower-income communities would also benefit from this policy as in 2020, 37.2 million people were in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Similar to France’s implementation results, food donations would likely increase in the United States (Eubanks, 2019). The education aspect of France’s policy would also aid the United States. Education on food waste and sustainability would help to set up the next generation as being more aware and proactive in reducing waste overall (Rickinson, Hall, & Reid, 2016). Although France’s policy does not prevent waste in all sectors and is overall light, implementing this policy would begin the process of a less-wastful nation.

Food Waste Prevention in France and its Potential Adoption in the United States Bibliography Albizzati, P. F., Tonini, D., Chammard, C. B., & Astrup, T. F. (2019). Valorisation of surplus food in the French retail sector: Environmental and economic impacts. Waste Management, 90, 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.04.034 Beardsley, E. (2018, February 24). French Food Waste Law Changing How Grocery Stores Approach Excess Food. NPR. https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/24/ 586579455/french-food-waste-law-changing-how-grocery-stores-approach-excess-food Chandler, A. (2016, July 15). Why Americans Lead the World in Food Waste. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/american-food-waste/491513/ Eubanks, L. (2019). From culture of food waste to culture of food security: comparison of food waste law and policy in france and in the united states. William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, 43(2), 667-[viii]. Economist Intelligence Unit. (2021). Food Sustainability index 2021 Methodology Paper. Economist Impact. https://impact.economist.com/projects/foodsustainability/files/FSI_2021_Methodology_P aper.pdf Environmental Protection Agency. (2022, March 14). United States 2030 Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal. US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/united-states-2030-food-loss-and-was te-reduction-goal Mourad, M. (2016). Recycling, recovering and preventing “food waste”: competing solutions for food systems sustainability in the United States and France. Journal of Cleaner Production, 126, 461–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.084 Mourad, M. (2015). France moves toward a national policy against food waste. NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/france-food-waste-policy-report.pdf Saltzman, M., Livesay, C., Martelli, J., & Gouffran, D. (2019, August 31). Is France's groundbreaking food-waste law working? PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/is-frances-groundbreaking-food-waste-law-working Rickinson, M., Hall, M. & Reid, A. (2016) Sustainable schools programmes: what influence on schools and how do we know?, Environmental Education Research, 22:3, 360-389, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2015.1077505 US Census Bureau. (2022, January 21). National Poverty in America Awareness Month: January 2022. Census.Gov. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html

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Food Waste Prevention in France and its Potential Adoption in the United States Van der Meulen, S., & Boin, G. (2015). Food waste and donation policies in France and the Netherlands. Food Lab International, 4, 27–29.

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