Italy has adopted a new law designed to drastically reduce food waste across the country. The Italian Senate passed the bill on Tuesday with an overwhelming majority of 181 votes in favour by only 16 abstentions. The new regulations, which come six months after a similar bill was passed in France, aim to cut food waste by one million tonnes from the estimated five Italy wastes each year. “The new laws make it easier for shops and restaurants to give excess food away to charitable causes,” Maria Chiara Gadda, the Democratic Party MP who introduced the bill, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Unlike the French law, which introduced heavy fines of up to €75,000 for supermarkets that throw away unsold food, the Italian approach is to incentivise surplus product donations by lowering the bureaucratic burden of food donations. The new law will cut red tape which made it difficult for food stores, supermarkets or restaurants to donate excess food since donations had to be declared five days in advance. With the new regulations, retailers would only have to declare all their donations by the end of the month. In addition, the new law clarifies that food may still be donated even if it is past its sell-by date and allows companies to donate food that has been mislabelled as long as it does not pose any health risk. Italian agriculture minister Maurizio Martina said the law was “one of the most beautiful and concrete heritages” of last year’s Universal Exposition hosted by Milan. “This provision confirms that Italy is at the forefront in the fight against food waste, a problem of still unacceptable proportions. With this law we are getting closer to achieving our aim of saving one million tonnes of food and donating it to those in need thanks to the indispensable work of our charities,” Martina said. According to food producers’ organisation Coldiretti, Italy throws away 5.6 million tonnes of food every year worth an estimated €12.5 billion. Italy will also invest in a campaign to promote the use of ‘doggy bags’ in restaurants, encouraging diners to take their leftovers home. In Italy, the bags will be called “family bags” in order to make it easier for Italians to free themselves of the notion that it was indecent to request to take home uneaten food. (ab)