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　　France Bans Stores from Trashing Unsold Food

　　France has become the first country to bansupermarkets from throwing away unsold food.

　　Legislators passed the law in February. The lawrequires supermarkets to donate unsold food tocharities and food banks.

　　If supermarkets do not obey the law, they face a $4,000 fine.

　　The new law is part of France's efforts to rethink consumption practices.

　　Each year, France throws away about 7 million tons of food. That is one-fifth of the amount offood bought each year. Along with individual consumers, restaurants and stores add to thefood waste.

　　Other European countries are also making efforts to reduce food waste. In Denmark, a new"waste" supermarket has opened, where customers can buy surplus - or leftover - food forcheaper prices.

　　Arash Derambarsh is a municipal councilor in a Paris suburb. He started a petition forparliament to adopt the supermarket food waste law.

　　"The situation is very simple," he said. "On the one hand, we have supermarkets that throwaway kilos of unsold food every day. On the other, faced with this absurdity, we have millionsof poor people in France.

　　Derambarsh published a book called Manifesto Against Waste. In the book, he wrote about timeas a poor student barely able to pay for rent. "I was hungry and ashamed of admitting it. Iwanted to turn it into a positive experience so others would not end up in this situation."

　　Derambarsh is now campaigning for the European union   to adopt similar supermarket wastelaws. He is also urging the United States and other countries to adopt such measures, too.

　　Reactions of charities

　　Yet the reaction among some charities and supermarkets in France shows how complex theissue of food waste really is.

　　Some people welcomed the new law. Louise Saint-Germain is president of a small non-governmental organization called, in English, A Hand Stretched Out For Tomorrow. She said theincrease in donation in will allow her group to "feed more people and provide a more diversifiedfood basket."

　　But others are worried the law will lead to more donations than they can handle. AlineChassagnot manages a Salvation Army store.

　　"We simply don't have the technical and logistical ability to distribute more food to morepeople. And we're not the only ones," she said.

　　Chassagnot said France needs to consider larger issues related to consumption and sharing.

　　"Yes, there's waste and there are enough poor people around," she said. "But really taking intoaccount a person's needs and dignity might mean another way of thinking that's not sosimple."

　　Supermarket practices

　　Many large supermarkets in France argue that the law doesn't really change much. The directorof one Carrefour supermarket in western Paris says her store has been donating unsold food tocharities for years.

　　Nothing is wasted, the director said. In the kitchen, chefs put day-old bread products intosyrup, then pour almond paste on them, turning them into new desserts. Rotten raspberriesare picked out of unsold tubs, and the good ones are reused in tarts.

　　And, food that is damaged or past its shelf life is turned into biofuel, the director added. Thebiofuel helps power supermarket trucks.

　　But other French stores reportedly put bleach onto unsold food. That chemical makes the foodinedible.

　　I'm Ashley Thompson.