(Credit: Getty Images)

Towns in France and Belgium have been giving out free chickens for years to combat food waste – could the idea catch on elsewhere?

Around Easter in 2015, the small French village of Colmar started handing out free chickens to its residents. The aim of this experimental new scheme, launched by the waste collection department in the small village in north eastern France, was to reduce food waste.

The project had been in the works for some time. The then-president of Colmar Agglomération (a role similar to a mayor), Gilbert Meyer, had been reelected in 2014 with the slogan “one family, one hen”, which aimed to encourage residents to adopt a chicken. The following year the operation was launched, in partnership with two nearby chicken farms. Residents were encouraged to think of the free eggs – the effort put into raising a chicken would pay off quickly.

More than 200 homes in four municipalities signed up and were given two chickens each – either red chickens (Poulet Rouge) or Alsace chickens, an old and local breed.

Each household signed a pledge committing to raising the chickens, with the understanding that the waste department could conduct welfare spot checks on the animals at any time. Henhouses were not provided; it was up to the residents to build or buy their own. The department ensured that each home had enough space for the hens – between 8 and 10 sq m (86 and 108 sq ft).

The scheme was a success – and is still underway. “Over the years, other municipalities have joined and since 2022 all 20 municipalities of the agglomération have participated,” says Eric Straumann, current president of the Colmar Agglomération.

To date, 5,282 hens have been distributed to local residents, and applications are currently open for the next round of distribution in June 2025. Not only have the residents received a plentiful supply of free eggs, but food waste has also been averted from landfill as chickens are fed kitchen scraps which would otherwise be thrown away.

“Considering that a hen has a life expectancy of four years on average and that she consumes 150g (5.3oz) of bio-waste per day, we estimate that we have avoided 273.35 tonnes of bio-waste [since 2015],” says Straumann.

The small French village of Colmar has been handing out free chickens to its residents since 2015 (Credit: Getty Images)

Food waste contributes more methane emissions to the atmosphere than any other landfilled materials, due to its quick decay rate. In the US, around 58% of methane emissions released into the atmosphere from waste landfills are from food waste. Although shorter-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2), methane has a global warming impact more than 80 times higher than CO2 over a 20-year period.

Around one third of food produced for humans is lost or wasted globally, amounting to 1.3 billion tonnes per year. Food loss and waste account for 8-10% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions – which is nearly five times the total emissions from the aviation sector.

Even though chicken owners in the UK have been advised to avoid to feeding the birds kitchen scraps due to concerns about spreading disease, it’s perfectly legal to do so elsewhere in the world, and it can have a meaningful impact on reducing food waste – and kickstart a cycle that benefits everyone.

“Proposed with the aim of reducing food waste, chickens make it possible to promote traditional circular economy practices that are still relevant today, particularly in villages, and which are now developing even in urban areas: chickens fed on our food waste in return provide us with fresh eggs,” says Straumann.

An additional benefit is that the chickens can teach children in Colmar about animals and the importance of protecting the natural world, he adds.

Colmar is not the only town to hand out free birds – nor was it the first to do so. In 2012 in another a small north-western French town called Pincé, ­two chickens were offered to each household to help them cut down on organic waste. “To begin with it was a joke, but then we realised it was a very good idea,” Lydie Pasteau, the mayor of Pincé, told local media at the time. A total of 31 families were given chickens, along with a bag of feed, with Pasteau calling the scheme a “surprising” success.

In Belgium, chickens have been handed out in the cities of Mouscron and Antwerp and the province of Limburg, although residents had to sign an agreement not to eat the chickens for at least two years. More than 2,500 families adopted hens in one year alone in Limburg, according to some reports, while in Mouscron, 50 pairs of chickens were given out in the second round of the scheme, after the initial giveaway was a success. Residents, who had to prove they had sufficient space in their gardens to keep the birds, were given basic instructions on chicken keeping.

Colmar residents have been left with a plentiful supply of eggs since 2015 (Credit: Alamy)

In theory, the scheme seems like a good idea, especially in parts of the world where eggs are either in shortage or very expensive. In California or New York, for example, a dozen eggs cost around $9 (£7). As some chicken breeds can lay up to 300 eggs every year, one chicken could lay up to $225 (£178) worth of eggs each year.

In practice though, Paul Behrens, a professor at the University of Oxford focusing on food systems, says there are some hurdles in the way: “I’m sure it could be done in the UK but I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” he says. “Bird flu is an ever-present worry. Current regulations mean you have to keep birds in fenced areas or indoors – this may again be a problem for animal welfare, or even disease spread if people don’t do this.”

The idea wouldn’t work well in the US either, says Mark Bomford, director of Yale University’s sustainable food programme. “I love chickens, but I don’t love the sound of this, especially in the US,” Bomford says.

The US is currently experiencing an egg shortage due to an outbreak of bird flu – and as a result egg prices have skyrocketed 36% compared to 2023 – but handing out free chickens would not be an “appropriate” response, Bomford says.

“Economically, steep inflation for a basic grocery item like eggs hurts the poor far more than it hurts the rich. To care for chickens you need feed, water, housing, space and free time,” he says. “Most people with lower incomes don’t have access to these things. By the time you have factored in all these costs, chickens are rarely ‘free’ and few people realise any net cost savings on eggs.”

One couple, however, did come up with a unique solution – renting chickens. Christine and Brian Templeton of Rent The Chicken in New Hampshire provide hens, feed and support for six months, allowing customers to collect fresh eggs at home. Business, the couple reports, is booming.

It’s important to temper egg expectations though, warns Behrens – industrial birds lay far more eggs than a home-kept healthy bird would. “Common and modern egg-laying birds are often in huge pain their entire lives, partly due to their genetics which are centred on providing as much ‘output’ as possible,” he says. “If you use older breeds and allow them to live a long, healthy life then you can avoid many of the most egregious animal welfare issues.”

“But people should then understand the tradeoff and expectations around that, you are having a much healthier bird in return for fewer eggs,” he says.

And from a food waste perspective, the ideal thing is to simply not waste the food in the first place – some researchers believe that composting can actually increase food waste.

“They think ‘oh, it’s okay as we compost’,” says Behrens. “Which is better than nothing but much worse than not wasting things in the first place. It could be even worse with chickens because you are getting eggs from them. People might waste even more than if they composted.”

But one unexpected benefit that was observed in Colmar – that had nothing to do with eggs or food waste – was the community the chickens created. Residents would bond over raising the chickens and would work with neighbours to care for the chickens when they went on holiday. “Residents have welcomed this operation since its launch,” says Straumann. “And that’s why all the municipalities in Colmar still participate in our programme today.”

– Lucy Sherriff

(BBC News)

The film centres around Savita, a young woman striving for an education and a career in a patriarchal society

It is often said that marriages are made in heaven.

But in India, where a majority of marriages are arranged, the process of match-making can feel like a passage through hell for a woman and her family.

That’s the premise of Sthal: A Match, the 2023 gritty Marathi-language film that has won several prestigious awards at festivals in India and abroad. It is releasing for the first time in theatres in India on Friday.

Set in rural Maharashtra state, the film centres around Savita, a young woman striving for an education and a career in a patriarchal society, and the attempts by her father Daulatrao Wandhare – a poor cotton farmer – to find a good husband for his daughter.

“He wants a good price for his crop and a good match for his daughter,” says director Jayant Digambar Somalkar.

The film is notable for the unflinching way it portrays what its lead actress calls the “very humiliating” experience of many young women, unlike other Indian movies about arranged marriage.

Sthal has also grabbed attention as its entire cast is made up of first-time actors chosen from the village where it is shot. Nandini Chikte, who plays Savita, has already won two awards for her brilliant performance.

With eyes downcast, Savita sits on a wooden stool facing a group of men who’ve come to assess her for marriage

The film opens with a sequence where Savita is interviewing a prospective groom.

Along with her female relatives and friends, she watches as the young man serves them drinks from a tray. They laugh when he, visibly nervous, fumbles during questioning.

Rudely awakened from what turned out to be a dream, Savita is told to get ready as a group of men are coming to see her.

In reality, the gender roles are completely reversed, and in a scene that’s replayed several times in the nearly two-hour film, Savita’s humiliation comes into sharp focus.

The prospective groom and other men from his family are welcomed by Savita’s father and male relatives. Guests are fed tea and snacks and once the introductions are done, Savita is called in.

Dressed in a sari, with eyes downcast, she sits down on a wooden stool facing her interrogators.

Questions come, thick and fast. What’s your name? Full name? Mother’s clan? Date of birth? Height? Education? Subject? Hobbies? Are you willing to work on the farm?

The men step out, to hold a discussion. “She’s a bit dark. She had makeup on her face, but did you not see her elbow? That is her real colour,” says one. “She’s also short,” he goes on to add. Others nod in agreement.

They leave, telling Daulatrao that they will respond in a few days to let him know their decision.

According to her parents, “this is the fourth or fifth time someone has come to see Savita” – all the earlier meetings have ended in rejection, leading to heartbreak and despair.

The scene rings true. In India, men often have a laundry list of attributes they want in their brides – a glance at the matrimonial columns in newspapers and match-making websites shows everyone wants tall, fair, beautiful brides.

In the film cotton farmer Daulatrao Wandhare (left) and his wife’s main aim in life is to find a good husband for their daughter

Savita’s protestations – “I don’t want to get married, I first want to finish college and then take civil services exams and build a career” – carry no weight in her rural community, where marriage is presented as the only goal worth having for a young woman.

“Marriage is given far too much importance in our society,” Chikte told the BBC. “Parents believe that once the daughter is married, they will become free of their responsibility. It’s time to change that narrative.”

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She says she found it “very humiliating” that Savita was made to sit on a stool to be judged by all those men who discussed her skin colour, while there was no discussion about the prospective groom.

“I was only acting, but as the film progressed, I lived Savita’s journey and I felt angry on her behalf. I felt insulted and disrespected.”

The film also tackles the social evil that is dowry – the practice of the bride’s family gifting cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom’s family.

Though it has been illegal for more than 60 years, dowries are still omnipresent in Indian weddings.

Parents of girls are known to take out huge loans or even sell their land and house to meet dowry demands. Even that doesn’t necessarily ensure a happy life for a bride as tens of thousands are killed every year by the groom or his family for bringing in insufficient dowries.

In the film too, Daulatrao puts up a “for sale” sign on his land, even though farming is his only source of livelihood.

The film’s entire cast is made up of first-time actors chosen from the village where it is shot

Director Somalkar says the idea for his debut feature film is rooted in his own experience.

Growing up with two sisters and five female cousins, he had witnessed the ritual far too many times when prospective grooms visited his home.

“As a child you don’t question tradition,” he says, adding that the turning point came in 2016 when he accompanied a male cousin to see a prospective bride.

“This was the first time I was on the other side. I felt a bit uncomfortable when the woman came out and sat on a stool and was asked questions. When we stepped out for a discussion, I felt the conversation about her height and skin colour was objectifying her.”

When he discussed the issue with his fiancée at the time – who is now his wife – she encouraged him to explore it in his work.

Writer-director Jayant Digambar Somalkar says the idea for his debut feature film is rooted in his own experience

In a country where 90% of all marriages are still arranged by families, Sthal is not the first to tackle the subject on screen. IMDB has a list of nearly 30 films about arranged marriage made by Bollywood and regional film industries just in the past two decades.

More recently, the wildly popular Netflix show Indian Matchmaking focused entirely on the process of finding the perfect partner.

But, as Somalkar points out, “weddings are hugely glamourised” on screen.

“When we think of weddings in India, we think of the big fat wedding full of fun and glamour. We think of Hum Aapke Hain Koun,” he says, referring to the 1990s Bollywood blockbuster that celebrates Indian wedding traditions.

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“And the Netflix show only dealt with a certain class of people, the ones who are wealthy and educated and the women are able to exercise their choice.

“But the reality for a majority of Indians is very different and parents often have to go through hell to get their daughters married,” he adds.

His reason for making Sthal, he says, is to “jolt society and audiences out of complacency.

“I want to start a debate and encourage people to think about a process that objectifies women who have very little freedom to choose between marriage and career,” he says.

“I know one book or one film doesn’t change society overnight, but it can be a start.”

– Geeta Pandey

(BBC News)

Was it pruning or felling?

The alleged chopping of centuries-old chinar trees in Indian-administered Kashmir has sparked outrage, with locals and photos suggesting they were cut down, while the government insists it was just routine pruning. The debate has renewed focus on the endangered tree and efforts to preserve it.

The chinar is an iconic symbol of the Kashmir valley’s landscape and a major tourist draw, especially in autumn when the trees’ leaves light up in fiery hues of flaming red to a warm auburn.

The trees are native to Central Asia but were introduced to Kashmir centuries ago by Mughal emperors and princely kings. Over the years, they have come to occupy an important place in Kashmiri culture.

But rapid urbanisation, illegal logging and climate change are threatening their survival, prompting authorities to take steps to conserve them.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has been geotagging chinar trees in an effort to keep track of them and their health. The project involves attaching a QR code to each tree with information about its location, age and other physical characteristics. 

“We are ‘digitally protecting’ chinar trees,” says Syed Tariq, a scientist who’s heading the project. He explains that information provided by the QR code can help locals and tourists get to known more about a tree, but it can also help counter problems like illegal or hasty cutting of them.

The project has geotagged about 29,000 chinar trees so far, with another 6,000–7,000 still left to be mapped.

Despite its heritage value, there was no proper count of these trees, says Mr Syed. While government records cite 40,000, he calls the figure debatable but is certain their numbers have declined.

This is a problem because the tree takes at least 50 years to reach maturity. Environmentalists say new plantations are facing challenges like diminishing space. Additionally, chinar trees need a cool climate to survive, but the region has been experiencing warmer summers and snowless winters of late.

But on the bright side, these trees can live for hundreds of years – the oldest chinar tree in the region is believed to be around 700 years old. A majority of the trees are at least a few centuries old and have massive trunks and sprawling canopies.

The trees received maximum patronage during the Mughal period, which stretched from the early 1500s to the mid-1800s. Many of the trees that exist in the valley were planted during this period, Mr Syed says.

The Mughal kings, who ruled many parts of erstwhile India, made Kashmir their summer getaway due to its cool climate and beautiful scenery. They also erected “pleasure gardens” – landscaped gardens famous for their symmetry and greenery – for their entertainment. 

The chinar enjoyed pride of place in these gardens and the trees were usually planted along water channels to enhance the beauty of the place. Many of these gardens exist even today.

According to government literature, in the 16th Century Mughal emperor Akbar planted around 1,100 trees in one such pleasure garden near the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, but about 400 have perished over the years due to road-widening projects and diseases caused by pests. 

Emperor Jahangir, Akbar’s son, is said to have planted four chinar trees on a tiny island in Dal Lake, giving it the name Char Chinar (Four Chinars) – now a major tourist draw. Over time, two trees were lost to age and disease, until the government replaced them with transplanted mature trees in 2022.

Interestingly, the chinar is protected under the Jammu and Kashmir Preservation of Specified Trees Act, 1969, which regulates its felling and export and requires official approval even for pruning. The law remains in force despite the region losing statehood in 2019.

But environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat says authorities often exploit legal loopholes to cut down chinar trees.

“Under the garb of pruning, entire trees are felled,” he says, citing a recent alleged felling in Anantnag district that sparked outrage.

“The government is geotagging trees on one side, but cutting them on the other,” he says. He adds that while authorities remove trees for urban projects, locals also fell them illegally.

Chinar trees have durable hardwood, ideal for carvings, furniture and artefacts. Locals also use them for firewood and making herbal medicine.

Government projects like geotagging are raising awareness, says Mr Bhat. He adds that Kashmiris, deeply attached to the chinar as part of their heritage, now speak out against its felling or damage.

Last week, many posted photos of the allegedly chopped trees in Anantnag on X (formerly Twitter) while opposition leaders demanded that the government launch an investigation and take action against the culprits.

“The government should protect the trees in letter and in spirit,” Mr Bhat says. 

“Because without chinar, Kashmir won’t feel like home.”

– Cherylann Mollan

BBC News, Mumbai