Spain approves the draft law against food waste

The Council of Ministers has approved a draft law against food waste with the aim of reducing unconsumed products that are wasted along the food chain, from harvest to home, imposing fines of up to €500,000 in cases of non-compliance. The legislation will now head for parliament approval, and the Government hopes to enter into force by early 2023.

Spain’s first-ever anti-food waste bill

According to Spain’s Minister for Agriculture, in 2020 alone, a total of 1.363 billon kilos of food was binned. Putting this in perspective, said Luis Planas, it means that every single person in Spain chucks out 31 kilos of food annually, a loss of some €250 per person (Fig. 1).

At the press conference following the Council of Ministers, Mr. Planas drew attention to the fact that the law aims to "regulate and raise awareness" and "responds to a social need," he stressed. On the one hand, it "regulates the preferential use of food for human consumption", favoring donation, and on the other it tries to "make society aware of the need to reduce food wastage".

The Minister explained that food waste represents an "inefficiency" of the food chain, which has economic, social and environmental consequences, because it involves wasting the work done by farmers in food production and misuse of natural resources consumed in this process. But also, he stressed, it is a matter that has a clear ethical character. The law is an important step forward, said the minister, who stressed its pioneering nature, since it is the first time that legislation on the matter has been passed in Spain, something that has so far only been done in France and Italy, according to him.

The keys to the law

1. Prevention plan and  disposal hierarchy.

It aims to “steer towards a more efficient production system” which “focusses on development of a circular economy”. It requires all industries throughout the food chain, from the agricultural sectors to retail and hospitality businesses, to have a plan in place to cut waste.

A “hierarchy of priority destinations” for food that has not been used or sold will de introduced, and businesses which do not comply could face hefty fines.

Unsold, but perfectly edible food should firstly be donated to food banks or similar institutions. If they cannot be, but are still in a good condition, they should be used to make other types of food. For example, inferior shapes and sizes of fruit can be turned into juice or jam by manufacturers who cannot sell them to shops or supermarkets, or, if they are not ideal for human consumption but are actually edible, should be used to manufacture animal food.

If goods are unsuitable for human or animal consumption, they should be destined for industry to created biomass as a fuel source or as compost.

Bars and restaurants also have rules to follow. They must give customers the option to take home any parts of their meals they cannot eat at the table, at no extra cost. In practice, the majority of restaurants in Spain already do this.

2. Obligations of the food chain players.

Everyone working along the food chain must be given full training by their employers on correct handling, storing and transporting, to prevent damage.

Supermarkets food stuffs which are getting close to their “use by”  date, or which have gone past the “best before” date but are still in good condition, should be sold at reduced prices or can be donated. Many supermarkets in Spain have already, for some time, been attaching prominent labels to fruit and vegetables close to their use-by-date are applied.

All companies in the food chain are required to encourage sales and use of in-season, local and organic produce as much as possible.

3. Penalty regime.

Fines for non-compliance, when considered “serious offences”, range from €6,000 to €150,000, which the Government says it to act as a deterrent, not as a new way to make money.

Not having a food loss and waste prevention plan would cost a company sanction range of €2,000 to €60,000. If a company commits a second or subsequent serious offence, within a period of two years, it is punishable by a fine of around €60,000 to €500,000.

Sector reactions

Aecoc, the association of manufacturers and retailers that brings together more than 32,000 companies, "shares the spirit and objective of the draft law", although it criticizes the fact that it has opted for a "sanctioning model such as the French one which, so far, has proved ineffective, given the difficulties in establishing control mechanisms.

Aecoc’s president regrets that the administration "bets on punitive laws, instead of incentive laws, which convey the idea that companies are going to work to avoid food losses because otherwise they will be fined, when they have been leading initiatives in this sense for years because they are committed and because it is our responsibility”.

The sector already has a voluntary membership initiative involving more than 700 companies. Thanks to the adoption of prevention plans in line with the draft law, the large-scale retail sector has managed to reduce the percentage of unused product out of the total amount marketed from 1.78% to 0.9%.

For the president of the Hospitality Association of Spain, "too much focus is placed on our sector. Where awareness should be raised is in households, which is where most food waste occurs. The government should also implement policies in this regard” (Fig. 2).

Reducing the price of products with an approaching expiration date may harm producers, which have already been suffering the consequences of price crises for many months. While consumers see it as an opportunity to save a few euros (and environmentalists see it as a step towards a more sustainable world), it seems that farmers fear that reducing prices could be synonymous with losses.

Although in principle it is a measure that could be good for society, several farmers' associations claim that the government has not taken them into account when developing this law.

The Director General of the Food Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture rejected that the law seeks to generate more obligations and expenses to companies.