China adopts a law against food waste. Fines for catering businesses and for bloggers

China's parliament adopted in April 2021 a law against food waste, which covers above all the catering sector, but also school canteens and media content creators. According to Xinhua, citing field research by legislators, about 18 billion kg of food is wasted a year in urban catering. The law, which according to Global Times has 32 articles, was adopted on 29 April 2021 at the 28th session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and took effect on the day of promulgation.

Key provisions

According to reports in the Chinese media and the text of the law:

• catering businesses may not mislead customers or encourage them to order excessive quantities; such practices carry a fine of up to 10,000 yuan,
• establishments may charge customers who leave large amounts of food, provided that the rates are clearly stated,
• catering businesses that waste large amounts of food may be fined up to 50,000 yuan (Global Times),
• Global Times also reports fines of up to 100,000 yuan for food bloggers who create or distribute binge-eating videos,
• schools are to monitor the number and composition of people using canteens and improve food management, including offering a variety of portion sizes.

The sources differ in the English title of the act (“Law on Food Waste”, “Law on Countering Food Waste”), which nicely shows that translations can be imprecise.

Political background

According to China Daily, the country's top leadership called for action against food waste in August 2020, and parliament sped up work on the law. Its declared aim is to safeguard food security and promote the traditional virtue of thrift.

Link to biowaste management

China generates enormous quantities of kitchen waste, which since 2019 has been separated in cities with mandatory sorting (e.g. in Shanghai). Preventing its generation reduces the load on processing facilities — anaerobic digestion and composting. The law is therefore not at odds with the development of biogas from kitchen waste: under the waste hierarchy, prevention takes priority, and energy from leftovers is the solution for what cannot be avoided.

What this means for Poland/Europe

In the EU, preventing food waste is a legal objective, but as a rule without charges for customers. The Chinese model is different — it is a reminder of the role of behavioural incentives and penalties in catering, which could complement EU food loss reduction targets.