Like many other countries, Italy has become concerned by the amount of food that goes to waste while others starve, and it’s attacking the issue with incentives for sharing and by encouraging restaurant customers to take home their leftovers.
France’s new program, implemented last year, requires stores and restaurants to participate under threat of fines up to €75,000; Italy’s takes the opposite tack of offering valuable incentives for those who participate.
It’s been estimated that there are 10 million people living in relative poverty in Italy, and Pasta Buono, a food charity that distributes leftover food. Giorgio Fogliani, who works with the program, believes that enough food can be saved from the €13 billion in estimated waste, to feed 7 million of them.
The new rules make it easier for restaurants and stores to give away unsold food and food that’s still good even after its ‘sell-by’ date. Bookkeeping and forms have been simplified, and businesses receive credits against their waste taxes based on the amounts they give away.
At the consumer end, the government will spend €1 million on a campaign to get diners into the habit of taking their leftovers home. Doggie bags have not been part of Italian food culture, but a pilot project in the Veneto area has been successful, and will now be broadened nationally.
Another €1 million will go into packaging research on ways to better protect food in transit and protect it from spoilage.
Photo: allispossible/Flickr
