How to restrain food waste by legal means
Experts suggest highlighting the rigidity of the system and accurately setting the supervisory body
□ Our reporter Pu Xiaolei
As long as there are leftovers, they will be packaged. This is a habit that the National People’s Congress representative Dang Yongfu has adhered to for many years. “In order to survive when I was a child, I had eaten leaves and wild vegetables. Knowing the difficulty of increasing grain production".
"The promulgation of the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law has provided legal protection for soil pollution prevention and control, and has effectively solved the problem of soil pollution. I think that more specific and rigid provisions should be made in the law, and the problem of catering waste should be included in a more complete The rule of law track." said Dang Yongfu.
Dang Yongfu's expectations are expected to become reality.
At present, the Legislative Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, in accordance with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s requirement of “strengthening legislation, strengthening supervision, taking effective measures, establishing a long-term mechanism, and resolutely stopping food waste”, is stepping up research and proposing legislative work plans with high quality and efficiency. Do a good job in related legislation and decide to set up a special class to carry out related work.
"Legislation should adhere to problem-oriented, goal-oriented, and result-oriented, and emphasize precision, litigation, arbitrability, and enforceability. It is necessary to accurately set the supervision body for government agencies, enterprises, catering companies, schools, etc. The waste phenomenon adopts various methods such as warning, publicity, admonition, fines, etc., to improve the legal system for punishing waste." said Liu Junhai, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School.
Food waste is shocking
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, various regions and various departments have adopted measures such as issuing relevant documents and launching the "CD Action" to vigorously rectify the trend of waste. The phenomenon of "waste on the tip of the tongue" has been improved, especially the public's strong public catering waste The behavior was effectively curbed.
But at the same time, food waste in some places still exists, and its severity is shocking.
In 2018, the China Urban Catering Food Waste Report (hereinafter referred to as the report) jointly issued by the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Wide Fund for Nature (hereinafter referred to as the report) showed that the per capita amount of food waste in China’s catering industry was 93 grams per person per meal. The rate is 11.7%.
The report estimates that in 2015, the amount of food waste on the table in China's urban catering industry was between 17 million and 18 million tons, which is equivalent to the amount of food consumed by 30 million to 50 million people a year-and such an astonishing amount of waste is only " "Urban Dining" this link.
The report shows that tourists, large-scale restaurants, gatherings of friends, official business consumption, and primary and secondary schools have become the "hardest hit areas" for food waste. Among them, the average waste rate of large-scale restaurant business gatherings is as high as 38%, and one third of student box lunches are thrown away.
Food waste not only means throwing away a large amount of food, but also means the ineffective consumption of a large amount of water, energy, land, and production materials used to produce these foods. Moreover, the disposal of these kitchen wastes also brings huge environmental pressure to the city.
Cheng Shengkui, a researcher at the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that my country's national conditions can no longer support this profligate way of food consumption. It is imperative to establish a green consumption model with thrift as the core of resource conservation, environmental friendliness, ecological circulation, safety and health.
Lack of effective rigid system constraints
In order to effectively restrain food waste, there have been calls and measures for legislation for many years.
During the 2009 National People’s Congress, in response to some food waste behaviors in the society, Xue Shaoxian, deputy to the 11th National People’s Congress and director of the Standing Committee of the Taizhou Municipal People’s Congress in Zhejiang, suggested that food waste should be legislated as soon as possible, and the food saving incentive system and waste should be clearly stipulated. Grain punishment system. Encourage reasonable consumption and economical consumption, and severely punish wastes, especially for wasteful behaviors on the table in restaurants, severely penalize wastes, and stipulate restaurant owners to be jointly and severally liable.
In 2013, Ren Zhengxiao, then director of the National Grain Administration, proposed that a long-term mechanism must be established to save food, reduce losses and combat waste. In particular, we must explore legislation to save food and oppose waste. In the Food Law, the provisions on saving food and opposing waste are clearly defined, and legal means are used to restrain and rectify food waste.
It is worth noting that with regard to the prevention of waste and strict economy, Article 14 of the Chinese Constitution stipulates that "the state shall practice strict economy and oppose waste". There are also provisions in the Civil Code that "civil entities engaged in civil activities shall be conducive to resource conservation and protection of the ecological environment." Regulations.
In order to better restrain the waste of food and beverages, over the years, all localities have been actively exploring legislation and supervision.
In 2013, Zhuhai, Guangdong took the lead in soliciting opinions on the interim measures for punishment of food waste. In January this year, Jiangsu promulgated the "Grain Circulation Regulations of Jiangsu Province", stipulating that local people's governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments should strengthen food-loving and food-saving publicity and education, and the news media should carry out public welfare publicity on food conservation and waste food. Conduct public opinion supervision.
But on the whole, the relevant regulations in the law are still relatively scattered, and the systemicity, pertinence, and integration are not strong enough. The local legislative exploration also lacks operability, which makes catering waste behavior always lack effective institutional constraints.
Li Xiuxiang, a representative of the National People's Congress and director of the Environment and Trade Research Center of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, once conducted a survey on the issue of food waste. In her opinion, there are many reasons for food waste. In addition to blind comparisons, pomp and picky eating, one important reason is It is the lack of effective restraint and punishment mechanisms.
“In Germany, people can report food waste, and law enforcement agencies will arrive as soon as possible and issue a fine. In China’s current laws, the provisions on stopping food waste are still more at the advocacy level and have not been formed. Rigid institutional constraints." Li Xiuxiang said.
Improve the legal system to punish waste
It is very urgent to implement special legislation at the national level to restrain food waste.
Zhao Wanping, deputy dean of the National People’s Congress and deputy dean of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, believes that the necessity and feasibility of legislation to address the issue of food waste are already in place. “Although it is an individual’s right to eat and how much to eat, if there is an issue in catering Waste is the consumption of social costs and is a kind of damage to public interests, which should be restrained at the level of the legal system."
It is worth noting that preparations for relevant legislation have already started.
Zhang Guilong, the first-level inspector of the Administrative Law Office of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, said that the Legal Work Committee will actively study and in-depth demonstrations on strengthening legislation to prevent food waste, and adopt various legislations and decisions to prevent Catering waste behaviors are specifically and clearly stipulated, and targeted regulations are made in the formulation and revision of the Food Security Law and other relevant laws. Especially in the catering consumption link, we actively advocate a reasonable and healthy diet culture, and establish a long-term mechanism to stop food waste.
Experts believe that to legislate on food waste behavior, it is necessary to adhere to problem-oriented and precise legislation. It is necessary to cover multiple links such as catering enterprises and consumers, but also to focus on official business consumption, school catering and other catering waste. "To regulate, it is necessary to build a rigid system to restrain food waste, but also to grasp the intensity and boundaries of punishment.
Sun Yuhua, an associate professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, believes that targeted institutional designs such as advocacy, incentives, and punishment should be designed for different subjects and different situations.
For example, catering companies should provide an appropriate amount of packaging boxes for free to encourage packaging leftovers and save food; restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and other companies can enjoy tax incentives for donating food that is about to expire and excess; for those who deliberately waste food Enterprises can impose fines and other penalties.
For personal consumption, we should focus on advocacy and promote the habit of diligence and thrift. At the same time, local pilots can be adopted to implement progressive punishment measures. For example, we can learn from Germany’s experience in managing food waste. Anyone can report food waste, and law enforcement agencies should deal with it immediately after receiving the report.
"In particular, we must grasp the focus of public funds consumption. For serious food waste, we should be held accountable in accordance with the law. By grasping this'critical minority', we can drive changes in the overall social atmosphere and achieve legal effects, political effects, and social The unity of effect." Liu Junhai said.
How other countries control food waste
Food waste is a problem in many countries and regions. In recent years, many countries have solved this problem by enacting laws.
France is the first country in the world to specifically enact laws to prohibit food waste. The Food Waste Act passed in February 2016 prohibits supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food. If the supermarket has surplus, it must be donated to a charity or food bank. After the supermarket and the charity sign an agreement, they can get a tax deduction of 60% of the donated product value.
Germany is considered the country with the most severe punishment for restaurant waste. From kindergarten, children will be educated to eat frugally. Regardless of whether the buffet or ordering food, you should not waste it. Once someone is wasted, any witness can report it to the relevant agency, and the staff will arrive immediately and fine it as required.
The Italian Senate passed a bill to encourage conservation on August 2, 2016, hoping to reduce the amount of food wasted every year by 20%. The bill simplifies the procedures for supermarkets and farms to donate food, allowing supermarkets to donate unsold food that has not expired soon, and farms donating unsold products without paying additional fees. The bill also encourages restaurants to provide packaging services, allowing consumers to take home unfinished meals.
In order to solve the problem of food waste, Japan passed the "Food Waste Reduction Promotion Act" in May 2019, requiring the reduction of waste in all links from food production to consumption, and it was implemented at the end of November of that year. The bill states that the government has the responsibility to promote policies to avoid food waste. The bill requires the Cabinet Office to set up a "Food Waste Reduction Promotion Conference" and promote "food banks" (mainly providing temporary meal support for people in financial difficulties and encouraging them to be self-reliant) activities.
Reporter Pu Xiaolei collated