France has recognized a problem within their own country—food waste is an issue that needs to be addressed. To take action, France recently became the first country to demand their supermarkets, through a law, to give unsold food to those in need.

While France has recognized that they need to stop wasting food, we have not. 40% of the food produced in the U.S. ends up in landfills, uneaten. Our country should strive to be the best, and therefore we should take a stand on food waste. Mimicking France’s new system in America would be a long shot, but by bringing the ideology to Aspen, we can do something for our country. We can reflect what our country should aim to be.

The process in which it would take to progress Aspen into a community resembling France is not an easy or speedy task, but as a whole, Aspen can work towards this ambition step by step.

Some communities in Colorado are already reflecting how the country should handle the issue of food waste by showing their desires to save food through doing it, and Aspen should be saving food too.

For example, the town of Colorado Springs has been taking many steps to help preserve their food.

“The Independent”, Colorado Springs’ newspaper, holds a fundraising competition amongst all the organizations working to save unused food. 87 organizations competed in this fundraising campaign, The IndyGive. Amongst the competitors, Colorado Springs Food Rescue was one of them. CSFR is a nonprofit with one goal, save usable food and give it those who need it.

“Like Aspen, the city of Colorado Springs wastes a lot of food every day—food that is fresh, good, and ready to eat. Grocery stores are the biggest culprits, but so are restaurants and catering businesses, for they are consistently making too much food to serve,” said Elsa Kendall, Operations Director of the CSFR. “We at CS Food Rescue are trying to intercept that food and rescue it before it goes to the dumpster, while bringing it directly to those in need.”

The majority of existing organizations saving food in Colorado, including the CSFR, all have been able to get started due to the Food Rescue Alliance.

“The FRA is a peer learning network, resource development group, and general food rescue support group. The members of FRA help people start up food rescues in their own towns,” Kendall said.

So, maybe Aspen’s first step should be to create an Aspen Food Rescue, but, regardless of how Aspen goes about this, the bottom line is that the community needs to start working towards saving food.

France’s goal is to cut their food waste in half by 2025, and I think Aspen should strive to do the same.