Man who forced French supermarkets to donate food wants to take law global

Arash Derambarsh, a local councillor who kickstarted fight against food waste in his Paris suburb, wants to convince more countries to follow France’s example

The Guardian, Kim Willsher in Paris, Monday 25 May 2015

People shop in a supermarket in southern France. Photograph: Rremy
Gabalda/AFP/Getty Images

A councillor whose campaign against food waste led to a law forcing French supermarkets to donate unwanted food to charity has set his sights on getting similar legislation passed globally.

Arash Derambarsh.
Photograph:
Bertrand Guay/AFP

Arash Derambarsh said it was “scandalous and absurd” that food is wasted and in some cases deliberately spoiled while the homeless, poor and unemployed go hungry.

Derambarsh – a municipal councillor for the “Divers Droit” (diverse right) in Courbevoie, north-west of Paris – persuaded French MPs to adopt the regulation after a petition gained more than 200,000 signatures and celebrity support in just four months.

The amendment was approved as part of a wider law – the Loi Macron – that covers economic activity and equality in France and is expected to be passed by the national assembly on Tuesday, entering the statute books shortly afterwards.

It will bar supermarkets from throwing away food approaching best-before dates and deliberately poisoning products with bleach to stop them being retrieved by people foraging through bins.

Now Derambarsh wants to convince European countries and the wider world to adopt similar bans. “Food is the basis of life, it is an elementary factor in our existence,” he told the Guardian.

Arash Derambarsh began his drive to fight food waste and food
Poverty in Courbevoie. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP

“I have been insulted and attacked and accused of being naive and idealistic, but I became a local councillor because I wanted to help people. Perhaps it is naive to be concerned about other human beings, but I know what it is like to be hungry.

“When I was a law student living on about €400 a month after I’d paid my rent, I used to have one proper meal a day around 5pm. I’d eat pasta, or potatoes, but it’s hard to study or work if you are hungry and always thinking about where the next meal will come from.”

Derambarsh started his campaign by collecting and distributing unwanted food from his local supermarket. “Every day we’d help around 100 people. Half would be single mothers with several children, pensioners or public workers on low salaries, the other half would be those living on the streets or in shelters,” he said.

Derambarsh is planning to table the issue – via the campaign group ONE, founded by U2 singer Bono – when the United Nations discusses its Millennium development goals to end poverty in September as well as at the G20 economic summit in Turkey in November and the COP21 environment conference in Paris in December.

An estimated 7.1m tonnes of food is binned in France each year – 67% of it by consumers, 15% by restaurants and 11% by shops. The figure for food waste across the EU is 89mtonnes while an estimated 1.3bn tonnes are wasted worldwide.

Man installs ‘charity fridge’ outside his house

The arrangement ‘would spare the needy the shame of asking for food’

Gulfnews.com, Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief, May 6, 2014

A Saudi man placed a fridge in front of his house in Hail and invited others
to donate food. (Image Credit: Mezmez)

Manama: Saudi and Gulf citizens have heaped praise on a man who placed a refrigerator in front of his house in the northern Saudi city of Hail and invited people to donate food to help the needy.

The open air donation would spare the needy the “shame” of asking for food, the man, who was not named, said.

The move came to national and international attention after a religious scholar, Shaikh Mohammad Al Araifi, paid tribute on his Twitter account to “the Saudi man from Hail who was engaged in an indirect act of charity.”

A Saudi man placed a fridge in front of

 his house in Hail and invited others to

donate food. (Image Credit: Mezmez)

Writing under the moniker of “Sniper”, an online user applauded the “simple, but far-reaching idea.”

“That is exactly what we needed: A simple, but bright idea that goes a long way in helping people,” Sniper posted. “The idea should now be adopted and all large mosques in the country should place fridges to take and distribute food,” he said.

Another blogger, Abdul Rahman, went further by suggesting “the smart idea should be applied in front of all houses.”

“It is the best way to ensure that all people have access to food,” he said.

Another commentator said that the food placed in the fridge does not have to be leftovers.

“The idea should be to develop the concept so that all kinds of food can be placed, even freshly cooked,” he said.

Salah, a Bahraini national, said that the idea should be implemented in Bahrain as the fasting month of Ramadan is about to start in the summer.

“It is a great act of charity that can make many people happy and satisfied,” he said. “There is the food factor, but there is also the spiritual dimension, especially during the sacred month when people engage deeply in acts of charily,” he said.

Ramadan, the month during which Muslim adults abstain from food, drink and sex from sunrise until sunset to test their patience, is expected to start on June 28.

Food banks in Taiwan launch alliance to share resources

Want China Times, CNA 2014-08-30

Food provided by 1919 Food Bank. (Photo/Kuo Chia-jung)

Six food banks in Taiwan launched an alliance in Taipei Thursday to share their resources and logistics more effectively and to push for legislation that encourages donations to food banks.

The founding of the Cozy Food Bank Alliance in Taiwan is aimed at "saying no to wasting resources," the alliance said in a statement.

Its members include the Taiwan People's Food Bank Association, the 1919 Food Bank, the Andrew Food Bank, the Chinese Youth Peace Corps Food Bank, the Southern Airport's Jen Ji Shiang Food Bank and the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China's Taichung branch, which operates a food bank in the central municipality.

"We hope to send the supplies to people in need in the fastest and most efficient way," Lawrence Liu, president of the Taiwan People's Food Bank Association and the first secretary-general of the alliance, said at a press conference.

Members of the alliance will share resources, information and logistics with each other, and cooperate in disaster relief assistance, community development and care services, Liu said.

They will also push for legislation that gives tax breaks to individuals and companies that donate to food banks, allows food banks or the public to purchase excess farm produce at discounted prices to give to the needy, and better ensure the safety of the food being distributed, Liu said.

He said Taiwan wastes 2.75 million tons of food each year, enough to feed 260,000 low-income households for 20 years.

Anthony Kitchen, manager of network programs with the US-based Global FoodBanking Network, stressed that food banks create a "win-win" situation for all involved.

In addition to helping people in need, food banks benefit businesses and organizations that have a problem with surplus food, which could otherwise cost time and money to deal with, he said at the press conference.

A food bank collects and distributes surplus food to people too impoverished to adequately feed themselves and their families. The first food bank was established in the United States in 1967.

The Taiwan People's Food Bank Association became the 24th member of the Global FoodBanking Network in 2012.

Related Article:

First 'boycott tomatoes' arrive at Dutch food banks

First 'boycott tomatoes' arrive at Dutch food banks

DutchNews.nl, Wednesday 27 August 2014

(NOS)

A consignment of 4,000 kilos of tomatoes have been delivered to Arnhem’s food banks under new rules to stop food waste because of the Russian boycott of Dutch produce.

The economic affairs ministry has brought in temporary rules to allow growers to remove fruit and vegetables destined for Russia from the market.

Brussels has set aside €125m to compensate growers for the loss of trade and the compensation is higher if the produce is sent to food banks, news agency ANP said.

The compensation deal applies to tomatoes, carrots, white cabbage, bell peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers, mushrooms, apples, pears and various soft fruits.

The Dutch food bank association estimates it can distribute 300,000 kilos of fruit and veg a week to low income families.

So far 45 growers have come forward to claim compensation, the Financieele Dagblad said.