France Made Food Waste Illegal — and Donations Soared

In 2016, France did something no major economy had done before: it made it illegal for large supermarkets to throw away edible food. Instead of binning unsold-but-good groceries, stores above a certain size are required to have donation agreements with charities — turning what used to be waste into a steady supply for food banks.

How the law works

The measure, championed by councillor Arash Derambarsh and often called the Garot law, bans supermarkets larger than about 400 square meters from destroying or deliberately spoiling unsold edible food. Stores must instead donate it through formal partnerships with aid organizations. Violations carry fines, and the law reframed surplus food not as the store's garbage but as a community resource.

The results

The numbers tell the story. By 2018, roughly 2,700 supermarkets were channeling near-expiry food to around 80 warehouses across the country, rescuing on the order of 46,000 tons a year that would otherwise have gone to landfill. The French government reported donations to food banks up more than 20 percent, and the share of supermarkets donating unsold products climbed from about 66 percent before the law to more than 90 percent.

An honest accounting

The law isn't perfect. Observers have noted uneven enforcement, and supermarket waste is only a slice of the total — households and the agricultural sector still throw away far more. But France's experiment proved a crucial point: when donating surplus is the default rather than the exception, an enormous amount of perfectly good food finds its way to people instead of the dump.

The United States has taken a different path — voluntary donation, encouraged by strong liability protections and tax incentives rather than mandates. France's success is a reminder of how much food is sitting in the gap, waiting for someone to make the connection.

Pantry exists to close that gap one donation at a time — no mandate required, just a few taps to turn your surplus into someone's dinner.