Activists barricade streets of German city to protest food waste

‘Uprising of the Last Generation’ wants the German government to enact food waste laws

Food waste protestors in Hamburg (DPA)

German activists have barricaded roads and glued their hands to a bridge to protest food waste and other environmental issues.

Members of the ‘Uprising of the Last Generation’ group glued their hands to the pavement to block the Köhlbrand bridge in Hamburg, while others barricaded the nearby Kattwyck bridge.

The organisation is comprised of environmental activists who are trying to raise awareness of climate issues through hunger strikes and traffic disruption.

Protestors have warned they will carry out more action at airports and ports in Berlin and Munich if the German government does not commit to laws aimed at preventing food waste, reports DW.

Some members of the group glued their hand to a bridge (AP)

A statement on the group’s website says: “We demand that the new federal government take immediate action against food waste: Large supermarkets should be obliged to donate food that is still edible - and thus take action against world hunger and significantly reduce their CO2 emissions.

“In order for this to happen, the federal government must introduce a food-saving law based on the French model.”

In 2016 France adopted a law forbidding supermarkets to destroy unsold food products and instead donate them.

Carla Hinrichs, a group spokesperson, said: “We wish such a step were not necessary”, adding that if the government did not give a specific date to introduce a “food rescue law” in the Bundestag, the group would be forced to “stand up for everyone’s survival” through “civil resistance”.

Another group spokesperson, Aimee van Baalen, told Deutschlandfunk radio that they had decided to move to more drastic measures after years of "signing petitions and marching on the streets" had done little to bring about the changes necessary “to save humanity from environmental collapse”.