China's anti-food waste law, which was adopted at the 28th session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on April 29 last year, makes clear stipulations that local people's congresses should introduce regional regulations, targeting specific problems in the fight against food waste with a streamlined legislative process.

On Nov 1, 2020, North China's Hebei province implemented China's first provincial-level regulation against food waste, promoting the use of serving chopsticks and smaller or half-portion dishes at restaurants. The regulation also covers responsibilities of government departments, a code of conduct for catering business owners, as well as related supervision and inspection measures. Instead of a catch-all decree, the regulation has focused on addressing key issues in the campaign.

Some other regions have also fast-tracked the legislation process to reduce food waste promptly. It took just a little over one month for the Standing Committee of the Huangshan Municipal People's Congress to introduce a code of conduct for the city, one of three pilot areas in East China's Anhui province to accelerate anti-food waste legislation.

In addition, local legislatures also took targeted and result-driven approaches to advance anti-food waste efforts. For example, Beijing's local regulation adopted on May 27 last year consists of 30 articles reflecting the capital city's conditions. It calls on State-owned enterprises to improve management of business dinners and the public to report violations of the regulation by dialing service hotline 12345.

In general, these regional regulations to fight food waste are often specific in response to prominent problems and practical and tailor-made in line with reality, in alignment with the national law to effectively curb food waste.