In Berlin, charities face an increase in demands for food products. They hope to soon be able to distribute the food thrown away by the supermarkets. The German government is considering a law in this direction.
Three hours before opening, the queue is already long in front of Tafel, a food bank in East Berlin, in the Kopenick district. Consequence of inflation: attendance has doubled in a single year. To meet the demand, the German government is considering a reform of the law in order to authorize the recovery of foodstuffs thrown away by large retailers.
>> An association fighting against food waste from seafood products
This project is supported by charities, now liable to penalties if they collect, then donate, what supermarkets throw away. They hope, like Elisabeth, a volunteer from Tafel, to make up for the lack of food to distribute. Every Tuesday, this sexagenarian sees 550 people turn up to collect food.
Above all, fresh produce and fruit and vegetables are lacking. So volunteers have to make choices, she explains.
“We can’t give as much as we would like because we don’t have enough. For example, we only distribute milk to families with children.”
The center manager, Carol Seele, would like, too, that the goods thrown by the large distribution can be recovered. Every year, several tons of food end up at the bottom of bins and containers. “Sometimes they throw really good stuff, like meat, cold cutsargues the manager. There are even preserves whose use-by date has not always passed. If the food is not dirty, why not give it away?“
11 million tons of food thrown away everyth year
But large retailers are not in favor of this legalization of the collection of foodstuffs. Some products may be damaged and pose health risks, warns Phillip Haverkamp, Director of the Trade Federation for the regions of Berlin and Brandenburg. “These may be goods contaminated with germs or mold, which may have been lying on the ground or which have been withdrawn from the market. They look completely normal, but may contain shards of metal or glass. All this cannot be seen, cannot be felt and it can therefore be dangerous”details the director.
In Germany, 11 million tons of food are thrown away every year. However, it is the households that are mainly responsible for this waste. In Berlin, one in five residents lives below the poverty line.