French Restaurants Ordered To Provide Doggy Bags

Taking leftover restaurant food home in a doggy bag is a pretty common event in the U.S., and now lawmakers in France are hoping it will catch on there, because a new French law says that restaurants will have to provide doggy bags to customers who ask for them.

According to The Local, the new law took effect as of January 1, 2016, and it states that all restaurants that serve more than 180 meals a day will have to provide doggy bags to customers who want to take leftover food home with them.

Taking leftovers home from restaurants is not nearly as common a practice in France as it is in the U.S., but lawmakers are reportedly hoping this new rule will do something to help cut down on food waste. An estimated 7.7 tons of food is wasted in France every year. Not all of that is wasted by leftovers on restaurant plates, of course, but lawmakers hope that letting people take leftovers home in doggy bags will at least make some difference in reducing that amount.