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Supermarkets in France have been banned from throwing away or spoiling unsold food by law. The stores are now required to donate unwanted food to charities and food banks.

Live Zero is part of a growing movement of "zero-waste" supermarkets that aim to end packaging waste by doing away with packaging altogether. The concept began in Europe more than a decade ago, and has since spread globally. There are now zero waste supermarkets from Brooklyn to Sicily to Malaysia to South Africa.

Sainsbury's supermarket in Leicester, which opens today, is one of two "triple-zero" stores the retailer has just opened. It emits zero CO2 from all operational energy used, zero waste goes to landfill, and the store has zero impact on the water usage of the local catchment area because of its "water-neutral" status, the UK grocery chain says.

An estimated 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year, totaling $750 billion in economic losses, according to a 2013 report from the United Nations that analyzed loss of food around the world. France is looking to avoid such waste, becoming the first country to enact a law that bans grocery stores from wasting food.

Bad news for those with a sweet tooth: the absence of pollinators such as bees and butterflies would signal the end of dessert as we know it. Whole Foods Market recently removed all products from an area of the supermarket reliant on the creatures, mirroring past initiatives in the diary aisle and the produce section. The results, seen above in the bakery department for the company's Share the Buzz campaign, are dramatic.

San Francisco just took a major step to save the environment. The city's Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance to ban the sale of polystyrene - more commonly known by its brand-name "styrofoam" - on Tuesday. It's the broadest ban on the product in the country, according to Mother Jones. "The science is clear," London Breed, Board of Supervisors president, said in a statement in April. "This stuff is an environmental and public health pollutant, and we have to reduce its use." Starting January 1, 2017, vendors will no longer be able to sell polystyrene products, from food packaging and coffee cups to packing peanuts and pool toys, according to Science Alert. And starting July 1, styrofoam fish and meat trays in supermarkets will also be banned.

Harvest Power Inc. has opened a plant at Walt Disney World to convert food wastes from restaurants, supermarkets and others into electricity and fertilizer.

Massachusetts recently enacted the most aggressive mandatory composting program in history, to affect supermarkets, colleges, nursing homes, and prisons.

U.K. supermarkets Sainsbury announces that one English store is now powered entirely by biogas.

France's Parliament took definitive steps to prevent food waste on Wednesday. The country's Senate unanimously voted to ban large food stores from throwing away food that's approaching its expiration date.

Supermarket chain Albertsons Companies has pledged to source 100% of its eggs from cage-free operations by 2025.

British supermarket group Sainsbury's has launched its own in-house sustainability standard, provoking backlash from The Fairtrade Foundation and Fairtrade producers alike. Developed as part of its Sustainability Standards Program, the 'Fairly Traded' label is Sainsbury's attempt to simplify the complex landscape of certifications, while providing more direct support to farmers. But the Fairtrade community fears the move will put the producer-buyer relationship out of whack, with producers ultimately coming out on the losing end.

GlobeScan is pleased to have recently completed a second comprehensive study of seafood consumers globally for The Marine Stewardship Council. We surveyed more than 25,000 consumers in 22 countries and found that a large majority of consumers are increasingly demanding independent verification of sustainability claims in supermarkets (72% this year compared to 68% in our first study in 2016).

The supermarket giant formally has joined Greenpeace's DETOX campaign, pledging to deliver "toxic-free" clothing under its own-brand range F&F and release a full list of suppliers in its clothing supply chain.