Taking home leftovers from restaurant dinners, an American habit that many thought would never find a home in France, is confounding expectations.
While new French laws designed to cut down on France's food waste require restaurants to provide them, skeptics believed that French diners wouldn't take up the offer, partly because they're used to the idea of eating everything on the plate. However, they've proven quite popular.
The law applies to restaurants that serve more than 180 meals per day, and is part of a campaign to end the waste of 7 million tonnes of food a year. EU statistics indicate that 14% of that is from restaurants.
Packaging companies have gotten on the bandwagon, too, with specially designed bags and boxes, including one for unfinished wine. TakeAway, a company, founded by students at Lyon University and maker of the box in the picture, has sold about 360,000 boxes to 800 restaurants in 18 months; another company has signed agreements with hotel operators to distribute the packaging.
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