France has done it, Europe is being pushed in this direction, Canada is being asked to go there - why is Australia not leading the pack?

"The French parliament voted in May to stop supermarkets from discarding leftover food, tonnes of which ends up in rubbish bins every day.

"Stores bigger than 400 square metres will be forced to sign contracts with charities by July 2016 to take their unwanted food, or face fines of up to €75,000 ($A107,542).

Food not fit for consumption will have to be used for animal feed or compost.

But it is the part of the law that forces stores to give unwanted food to any association who asks for it that Mr Derambarsh considers his personal victory.

A councillor in the town of Courbevoie just outside Paris, Mr Derambarsh in January launched his petition on the website change.org demanding such a law. It got some 211,000 signatures and caught the government's eye. 

Mr Derambarsh is now launching the petition throughout Europe next week.

While several nations have information campaigns or strict recycling rules - in South Korea you have to separate food from other garbage and pay weight-based disposal fees - few have food waste laws.

A similar change.org petition is calling for the Canadian government to make supermarket food waste illegal.