Cutting food waste without becoming rigid

DLC (date limite de consommation, 'à consommer jusqu'au') is a real safety deadline — meat, fish, fresh dairy, ready meals. After this date, throw it out. DDM (date de durabilité minimale, 'à consommer de préférence avant') is a quality indicator — pasta, rice, biscuits, canned goods, condiments. Most DDM products are perfectly safe months or even years after the date. Sniff and taste rather than binning.

Bio-waste sorting at source is mandatory for every French household since 1 January 2024 (loi AGEC). Composting at home satisfies this, as does using a commune-provided brown bin or shared composter. Your commune is legally required to offer at least one route. There is no individual fine for non-compliance, but the goal is to get bio-waste out of the residual bin, where it's incinerated at high cost and high carbon.

Yes, with one caveat. They give €10–€20 of food for €3–€5, divert real surplus from supermarket bins, and are integrated into French anti-gaspillage policy. Watch out for buying more than you would otherwise eat — that just shifts the waste. Treat the basket as a substitute for what you'd have bought anyway.

ADEME's modelling: a typical four-person household wastes ~80 kg of food per year, worth €400–€600 at 2024 prices. Halving that (achievable in a year with the habits above) recovers €200–€300 — roughly the cost of a weekly Carrefour shop, every year, indefinitely. The behavioural change pays back faster than almost any home-energy investment.

Both accept fruit/vegetable peelings, eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags (if not synthetic), and cardboard. Home composters generally exclude meat, fish, dairy, and cooked oily food (which attract pests and smell). Brown bins typically accept everything bio-waste. Check your commune's specific list — Paris Compost, Lyon Métropole, etc. all publish detailed guides.