Spain approves law against food waste with fines of up to €500,000

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Spain approved Tuesday a bill against food waste, imposing fines of up to €500,000 ($535,000) in cases of non-compliance.

"It is a pioneering legal instrument to combat inefficiency in the food chain that has economic, social, environmental and ethical consequences," Luis Planas, the agriculture, fisheries and food minister, told a news conference following the council meeting.

The initiative is expected to become effective on Jan. 1, 2023, and it stipulates that the companies in the chain must have a prevention plan to minimize losses and allocate food to other uses, with priority for human consumption.

Businesses with less than 1,300 square meters (around 14,000 square feet) will be excluded from the need to have this plan, Planas said.

In 2020, around 1,433 tons of food -- an average of 31 kilograms (68 pounds) per person -- were thrown away by Spanish households, according to data by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Ministry.

Planas noted that 20% of food losses occurred throughout the chain, and 40% in retail sales or in homes.

The Food Loss and Waste Prevention Bill obliges the catering companies to provide consumers free of charge with the possibility to take away the food that they have not consumed and to have reusable or easily recyclable containers available for food.

"This law aims to regulate and raise awareness," he said. "Regulate the preferential use of food for human consumption and its donation to food banks and raise awareness in society as a whole to avoid food loss and waste."

Not having a food loss and waste prevention plan, which is considered a serious offense, would cost a company a sanction range of €2,000-€60,000.

If a company commits a second or subsequent serious offense within a period of two years, it is punishable by a fine of around €60,000-€500,000.