Petition Looks to Tackle Food Waste and Social Inequality with Introduction of Legislation

An online petition calling for a legal framework in the Grand Duchy to combat food waste and social inequality has been gaining traction among the Luxembourg public.

Petition #654 was submitted by Jean-Marc Cloos, Lynn Gindorff, Filipe Lima da Cunha and Jacques Schneider to the Chamber of Deputies website on 11 April 2016 and has so far received nearly 480 signatures since being opened on 24 April.

The petition stated that although Luxembourg holds one of the highest standards of living in the world, "it is not immune to social inequalities", pointing to the 19% poverty risk rate for households in the Grand Duchy. Meanwhile, food waste exceeds 120kg annually per capita - an unnecessary expenditure which the petition authors claim could largely be avoided.

The country's social inequality has seen the Luxembourg Red Cross open eight social grocery stores, or Croix-Rouge Butteks, across the country to offer affordable necessities to disadvantaged people in various communities, and a 68% increase in attendance in the last two years at the social restaurants run by Stëmm vun der Strooss.

Although certain supermarkets such as Auchan have set up programmes to provide products approaching their expiry date to those in need, the petition pointed out that such initiatives are entirely voluntary, meaning that a legal framework is needed in the country to make further progress.

The petition authors called on the Chamber of Deputies to follow in the footsteps of France, establishing a working group charged with the task of drafting a law to prevent important food supplies from being thrown away and to establish a means of such products being collected. The petition called for food waste to be transformed into free nutrition for charitable organisations, feed for animals, compose for agricultural use or recyclables for energy.

"Several countries, including France and Germany, have now-and-already adopted related legislation," the petition read. "It is time that Luxembourg does the same."

The petition can be signed at www.chd.lu 

Photo by SOS Faim