© dpa
The Berlin Senate wants to curb food waste and develop measures for this at a round table.
Consumer Protection Senator Felor Badenberg (CDU) today welcomed stakeholders from business, administration, science and initiatives that are already active in this area.
Results are to be presented at Green Week 2025, according to the Senate for Justice and Consumer Protection. "The core objective of the round table is to prevent so-called containerisation and significantly reduce waste," explained a spokesperson. To this end, retailers and organisers are to be brought together to develop measures that can be implemented in the short term.
According to figures from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, almost eleven million tonnes of food were thrown away in Germany in 2021. In Berlin, as in many other places in recent years, a number of initiatives have been set up that swap food with each other or store it in special fridges and cupboards for people in need. The aim is to prevent unspoilt food from ending up in the bin. At the same time, the aim is to prevent people from collecting discarded food from waste containers - for example from supermarkets.
So-called containerisation can currently be prosecuted for theft and trespassing. Extensive legalisation has been under discussion for some time. At the conference of justice ministers in spring 2023, Badenberg, as chairwoman, spoke in favour of this. In her view, however, this is also a social problem that cannot be solved by criminal law alone.