A sharepic is currently being distributed again asking people to stop shopping at the “Real” retail chain.

Accordingly, “Real” ensured that a pensioner was convicted because he took expired coffee from the market's trash.
The sharepic that in October 2018 is:

The sharepic with the claim against Real
Screenshot: mimikama.org

“Citizens, DO NOT buy (anymore) from REAL!
The supermarket chain ensured that a 76-year-old pensioner was convicted because he fished out expired coffee from the TRASH (!) and took it with him.
If you have a functioning heart, share this post.”

A real case

In fact, a pensioner was convicted in court in October 2018 for stealing 35 packs of coffee that had expired, as reported by numerous media outlets .

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And what was he sentenced to?

The man was charged with “particularly serious theft”.
This charge is made when someone uses force to gain access to a closed building, room or area in order to steal items there.
This was suspected by the public prosecutor's office because the pensioner entered the market premises hole in the fence Young people had pointed out to him that “there was a lot of stuff” in the container.

The judge recognized that the pensioner had not previously faced any criminal charges, and it was also possible to prove that the 76-year-old's statement was correct.

He was sentenced to a mild fine of 300 euros on probation for two years.

In concrete terms, this means : He only has to pay the 300 euros if he commits a criminal offense within the next two years (i.e. until October 2020)!

What is this law supposed to do anyway?

According to WWF , a third of all food purchased in Germany is thrown away even though it is still edible. This is understandably annoying, which is why in France, for example, there is a law that requires larger stores to donate food that has expired.

Legally, goods in waste are in a kind of suspended state. By placing waste in a garbage container, you are offering a transfer of ownership . As long as the waste has not been disposed of, you are in principle still the owner of the waste, with all the rights, but, and this is important: with all the responsibilities!

This means that the owner of the waste is also responsible for it. For example, if you throw poison in the trash, the owner of the trash is responsible for it, and that is not “nobody,” but the person who wanted to throw it away.

This is also the case, for example, with bulky waste that is left on the street: If someone trips over a broken bed that is spread halfway across the sidewalk, the owner of the waste is responsible for it, and that is the person who wanted to dispose of the waste , not the city or anyone else.

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Back to the coffee :
Assuming that the coffee really was so bad because it had exceeded its best-before date that the pensioner would become seriously ill: then the man could in principle sue the Real market, since the market was still legally the owner of the coffee. One can doubt whether such a lawsuit would make sense, but it is at least theoretically possible.

Not only for this reason, but also because the coffee as waste, which was stored in a container, was an explicit offer to the recycling company to take it over as property and was not intended as an offer for everyone to have a share of the coffee Real had almost no choice but to file a lawsuit.

Conclusion

Food waste in Germany is certainly annoying, and it seems inappropriate that the pensioner was charged for taking coffee from a dumpster.

Legally, however, this regulation, i.e. the criminalization of stealing waste from a container, makes perfect sense. It ensures that waste disposal is regulated and that you are also responsible for your own waste. Otherwise, everyone could dispose of their waste however they want and no one could be charged if someone is harmed by improperly disposed waste.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )