Morocco Considers Fines to Combat Restaurant Food Waste

Initiated by the parliamentary group of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the text provides for the imposition of financial penalties equivalent to double the market value of edible food thrown away.

The draft law aims to reduce the waste of edible food by restaurants as well as fruit and vegetable sellers. Rather than throwing away unsold but still edible food or produce, the text proposes donating them to associations that will be responsible for distributing them to vulnerable people (students, homeless, elderly, etc.) or transforming them into animal feed or fertilizer.

All actors in the food sector (producers, processors, meal distributors, restaurants, hotels, caterers and food traders) will be involved in this fight against food waste.

According to the 2024 report of the United Nations Environment Programme on the food waste index, more than 4.2 million tons of food were wasted in Morocco in 2022, the annual per capita share being 113 kilograms against 91 kilograms in 2021. These waste affects the economy and food security of the kingdom.