Supermarkets in France will be forced to give away unsold food to charities in an effort to tackle food waste. On Thursday, the French national assembly voted unanimously to pass the legislation which forms part of a larger environmental bill. Under the new law, supermarkets measuring 400 square metres or more would be forced to give any unsold, but still edible, goods to charities or to farms for use as animal feed or compost. This includes products which would be thrown away because they are damaged or because their best-before dates are approaching but are not dangerous to eat. Big supermarkets will have to sign contracts with charities by July next year or face penalties including fines of up to €75,000. The bill was proposed by Guillaume Garot, a Socialist deputy and former food minister. “It’s scandalous to see bleach being poured into supermarket dustbins along with edible foods,” he told The Guardian. The legislation also includes education programmes about food waste in school cafeterias and businesses. The overall bill will need to go to the senate for final approval. Environmental groups welcomed the vote, but warned that it could also send out all the wrong signals while failing to address the wider issue of overproduction and wastage in food distribution chains. The French measures are part of an effort to halve the amount of food waste in the country by 2025. The Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy estimates food waste to amount to 7.1 million tonnes. According to official estimates, wasted food costs the average French household €400 a year, and the country up to €20 billion. Similar rules could also be put in place in the UK and other countries in Europe. A report earlier this year showed that in the UK, households threw away 7 million tonnes of food in 2012. An online petition started last week is urging the British government to adopt the French proposal. Posted on the 38 Degrees campaign website, the petition is calling for supermarkets to hand over all unsold food to charities and suggest the introduction of a voluntary payment to be added to all online orders to fund a delivery service to those in need. By Wednesday morning, the petition had been signed by more than 123,000 people. (ab)