New law to limit food waste in supermarkets

Senat, the upper chamber of parliament, is working on a new bill that would limit the amount of food wasted by supermarkets. Shops with area greater than 250 sqm, whose at least half of turnover comes from selling food, would be forced to sign an agreement with a charity or a food bank to donate food approaching its best-before date. The supermarkets who would opt for binning food instead of donating it will pay PLN 0.10 per kilogram of waste to the charity it had signed contract with. Failing to pen a deal would result in a financial penalty of PLN 5,000, a draft bill indicated. The charities could spend the money only on upgrading infrastructure to receive food or social campaigns. The latter purpose would be capped at 20 percent of the sum paid by the supermarkets. According to Eurostat, Poland wastes 9 million tones of food annually.