NEWS AND COMMMENT: Spanish law will guarantee a doggy bag with dinner. In Spain, bars and restaurants will have to inform customers that they have the right to leave with leftovers in a doggy bag as part of nationwide efforts to reduce waste. I like it. Good move.
Bars and restaurants will have to offer doggy bags at no cost to the customer in a reusable or recyclable and easily compostable container under new legislation: Food Waste Prevention Law.
The law comes into effect next year, 2023. At the moment The Times tells us that the Spanish threw away 1.2 million tonnes of food last year which works out at an average of 28.2 kg per person. I would expect it to be worse in the UK. On an associated topic, people in general buy far too much at supermarkets and end up throwing far too much away.
Some supermarkets in Spain incentivise customers to bring their own containers for shopping. For example, the chain Carrefour welcomes shoppers to buy from fish, charcuterie, fresh meat and fruit and vegetable counters using their own containers.
They encourage this by offering 15 cents cash back on the store’s loyalty card per box up to a maximum of 45 cents each visit.
It’s up to the customer to make sure the container is hygienic. And provided they are disinfected, smaller stores can reuse glass, ceramic containers and metal containers each time.
In addition, the new law includes a commitment to incentivise retailers to maximise the sales of products near their sell by dates. They should use discounts as well as recommending that oddly shaped vegetables be promoted. In the UK, they’ve stopped printing sell by dates on certain products to encourage the purchase of products nearing what would have been their sell by date.
In my view, sell by dates can be far too tight and often these food products can be eaten several days after the sell by date.
One last thing: in Spain, food retailers will be obliged to improve their agreements with food banks so they can donate leftovers as efficiently as possible.
Some more on human behaviour:
