Restaurants will be required to provide packaging so that customers can take leftover meals.
Italy, a country world-famous for its generously portioned dishes that could feed an entire family, suffers from a high rate of food waste. In an effort to combat this problem, a law against food waste came into effect nationwide this Wednesday.
The Spreco Zero plan (zero waste, in Italian) aims to promote the donation of food that would otherwise be wasted to the most vulnerable sectors of the population. The standard aims to save around 1 million tons of food per year. In this way, Italy should be able to save approximately 12 billion euros (more than 40 billion reais) annually. According to official data, Italians throw, on average, around 76 kilos of food in the trash per year.
The plan's focus is on foods that have maintained hygiene and safety requirements, but that for some reason have not been sold, are close to their expiration date or have not been released onto the market due to labeling errors. Additionally, restaurants will now be required to provide packaging so that their customers can take the remains of their meals home. The habit, quite common in Brazil, is often frowned upon in Europe.
(With ANSA)
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