France to ban single use plastic bags
It’s a story that should not really surprise anyone, since the measure should have initially come into force on the 1st of January 2016, but from the 1st of July 2016 single use plastic bags will be banned in France.
The decree, which has just been published in the Official Journal today, provides for the outright prohibition of these plastic bags, either free or bought. We know that many stores, to deter consumers from using them, started selling the bags rather than giving them away.
The decree is a provision of the law on energy transition, regarding plastic bags less than 50 microns thick, under the terms of which stores will be required, to propose a reusable alternative from the 1st of July.
If for the moment the decree only concerns the bags distributed at the cash register, on January the 1st 2017 the ban will be extended to all the plastic bags distributed inside the store, for example in the fruit and vegetable section, where the current bags are set to be replaced with compostable bags.
It is estimated that about 8 billion plastic bags are thrown away in Europe each year.
