Food waste: Do legal obligations for supermarkets work?

Once a week, Jeannine Weyekmans and other volunteers give food to some 150 families. The chairwoman of this food bank knows the people who come here have no other choice. This Thursday, many people found their way to the Protestant church in the Brussels municipality of Laeken.

Men and women fill their shopping carts and bags with what is handed to them by the volunteers. Among them are many families with children. Next to a pile of bread, there are sauces and vegetables on the tables. On the other side of the room, people take little bags of chips and boxes with sweets. There is also sparkling water, fruits and cooking oil, and in a big fridge, meat.

Unlike in a supermarket, people do not pay, but they also can't choose from the shelves everything they might crave. People only find what has been donated by supermarkets. Some of the products have passed the best-before-use date, others have not. Among the products are some, such as oil or flour, that have an EU flag on them. They have been paid for by an EU project. 

High demand at Brussels food banks 

People come here for different reasons, Weyekmans told DW. Some of them are entitled to via the social welfare authorities, others are in debt and then there are some people who are waiting to get their residence papers and can't work in the meantime.

Weyekmans said that they do a little check that people coming here really need it. But they would never send someone away without food, she added. Every Thursday they hand out the groceries to the needy. Some of the people coming here live on what they got from Thursday to Thursday, Weyekmans said.

The food bank in Laeken is one of the roughly 140 in the Brussels and Brabant region. The food bank provides 5 million kilograms of foodstuffs to nonprofit organizations every year, president Luc Rogge told DW. The regional food bank serves as a hub for food donations from supermarkets to food banks and hands out food paid for by an EU project for the most deprived (FEAD). This makes for around 40% of the yearly amount.

The food bank operates with volunteers and is supported by the social authorities and the region. Without the commitment of people like Rogge and Weyekmans, more food would probably go to waste.

Plans to make food donations mandatory

Eurostat estimates that roughly 10% of all the food made available to EU consumers ends up in the trash. In 2020, that amounted to nearly 59 million tons, according to the EU. At the same time, the EU said 32.6 million people in Europe are not able to afford a quality meal every second day.

In the Brussels area, regional minister Alain Maron said in a statement on his website that there are 70,000 people who rely on food banks. Starting in 2024 he wants to oblige stores with a surface area of more than 1,000 square meters to donate unsold — but still consumable — food. A draft decree passed in a first reading and has to undergo further legislative steps.

Hans Cardyn, spokesperson for the Belgian retail trade association Comeos, told DW that supermarkets in Belgium are already donating a lot. He believes the new law would disadvantage clients, who would no longer benefit from reduced prices of goods that are approaching the expiration date.

Another problem, according to Cardyn, is that the obligation is only valid for stores with over 1,000 square meters of retail area. This plan might sound like a good idea, he said, but is in fact a "wrong good idea." 

Legislation in other European countries

Belgium isn't the first country to want to introduce legislation dealing with food donations from supermarkets. According to the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA), which represents 30 members bringing together a network of 351 food banks in 30 countries, they observe three different approaches.

Some countries such as France and the Czech Republic oblige retailers to sign agreements for food donations to food aid organizations. Other countries, such as Italy and Moldova, choose fiscal incentives or simplify administrative procedures, Angela Frigo, secretary general FEBA, told DW. Lastly, she added that there were countries, such as the Netherlands and Hungary, which would prefer voluntary agreements rather than to implement legislation. Spain is also planning to introduce laws to stop food wasteintroduce laws to stop food waste.

Asked by DW whether this kind of legislation changes the situation for food banks, the association answered in a statement "that depending on the country, the implementation of these approaches has led to increased or decreased quantity of food donations." However, the main change was "a greater focus on the issue of food donation and a reinforced dialogue between all parties involved."

Is forcing donations the way to go?

Paul Milbourne, a social geographer at Cardiff University, told DW that even though "every little bit helps," the bigger question of why there is food waste is not addressed in any of these initiatives. He believes the supermarket retail model includes an element of surplus and that the aspect of the overproduction of food is not addressed.

Food waste does not only come from supermarkets. According to the European Commission, over 50% of the food waste comes from households. By 2030, the EU wants to introduce legally binding targets to reduce food waste.

In July, the Commission proposed to reduce food waste by 10% in processing and manufacturing and 30% per capita in retail and consumption. These proposals still need to be discussed by the European Parliament and member states. 

Other models to tackle food poverty

Milbourne thinks it's problematic to use food waste to feed people on low income and that there are better models to provide food for them than food banks which come with stigmatization. As one of them, he mentions the so-called community food shop model, which is starting to develop in the UK.

In this model people come together and purchase foods for reduced costs. They pass the reductions on to their members — a bit like in a cooperative. The benefit, according to Milbourne, is that it would entitle people with low incomes to a variety of foods of high quality. He thinks the whole approach toward food should change and that it should be seen as a right. 

Back in Brussels, the two volunteers welcome the plan by the Brussels region to make donations mandatory. Whereas Rogge thinks that in practice it might not change so much, as most of the supermarkets are already donating nearly everything, Weyekmans is more optimistic. She thinks it's a great idea and hopes to be able to help even more people in the future.

Marta Viganò contributed to this report

Edited by: Andreas Illmer