OREANDA-NEWS  Deputies of the Fair Russia — For Truth faction in the State Duma intend to introduce a bill on the creation of special social shelves in stores with products intended for pensioners and socially vulnerable categories of citizens. Izvestia writes about this with reference to the prepared document.

As indicated in the explanatory note, the problem of irrational use of products remains in the country. The authors of the document, with reference to Rosstat data, claim that most often essential goods such as grain products, dairy products and vegetables go to waste. In total, up to a third of all products in the country are turned into waste.

Deputies want to motivate businesses to create social shelves with changes in the Tax Code, the corresponding document will be submitted to the State Duma separately. It proposes to raise the spending limit on charity from one to five percent of revenue. The leader of the faction, Sergei Mironov, recalled that under current legislation, recycling often turns out to be more profitable than free distribution, because companies have to pay VAT if too many products are distributed.

Earlier, the Ministry of Industry and Trade had already linked the issue of developing the foodsharing program with the position of the Federal Tax Service (FTS), but no progress was reported in this direction.

Experts note that tax breaks for businesses will indeed reduce the volume of food sent for recycling, but still the organization of social shelves should take place on a voluntary basis. At the same time, Oleg Pavlov, the head of the Public Consumer Initiative, recalled that there is a danger that businesses will start using tax incentives to launder funds, and this is why the authorities have doubts about this method of combating food waste.