No more plastic-covered cucumbers, lemons or oranges in French markets!
In January 2022, President Emmanuel Macron's government passed a new law banning plastic packaging for most fruits and vegetables in France in response to growing plastic waste. Cucumbers, lemons and oranges are only a few examples out of the 30 varieties banned from being wrapped in plastic. As an alternative, retailers and consumers are starting to use cardboard, biodegradables, and reusable bags and containers.
However heavier packs (>1.5kg) and chopped, processed fruits will be exempt from this law. Other 'delicate' varieties such as berries and cherry tomatoes have been allowed to use plastics until 2023 - 2024 (depending on variety), so as to find suitable alternatives to plastic boxes, strong enough to protect the fruits from getting deformed.
Prior to January 2022, almost 40% of fresh produce used to be sold in plastic packaging, deemed unnecessary by the French ministry of environment. During the declaration of the new law, the French environment ministry said France uses an "outrageous amount" of single use plastics, and that this new law "aims at cutting back the use of throwaway plastic and boost its substitution by other materials or reusable and recyclable packaging". Macron called this ban a "real revolution" - showing the country's efforts to eliminate single-use plastics by 2040 as global pollution worsens.
IMPORTANCE
As per a 2019 WWF report, France was the largest plastic producer in the Mediteranean region, and only 22% of its plastic waste was recycled whilst 3.4 metric tonnes of it was either dumped in landfills or incinerated every year. Not only does this effect marine life and the fishing industry, but France's plastic production also results in 35 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, which is a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. This in turn causes plenty of problems, one of them being climate change, and how it affects rising sea levels, agriculture and the safe provision of our food. Henceforth, it is vital to ultimately eliminate plastic packaging, for the benefit of our environment, safety and health.
OTHER MOVES
This move was just one of France's long-term approach to gradually phase out plastics across various industries by 2040. In 2016, France had banned plastic bags in supermarkets, substituting them with paper bags and biodegradable plastic bags. Import, production and sale of microbeads in rinse-off cosmetics was banned in 2018, while in 2020, coton swabs were banned from having plastic swabs in 2020, having cardboard swabs instead. France had banned plastic straws, cups and cutlery in 2021, as well as polysterene takeaway boxes. More recently in 2022, France also banned free plastic toys given alongside child menus, most notably in fast food restaurants, and most public spaces will have to provide water fountains, discouraging people from buying plastic bottles.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Following the COP26 conference (see our blog on COP26: https://istenvironment.wixsite.com/istenvironmentgroup/post/cop26-climate-saviour-or-political-helL) , other countries too are implementing restrictions on plastic. For example, Spain announced this same ban on plastic packaging for fresh produce should be coming into effect by 2023, so as to give enough time for producers to manage their supply chain and plastic packaging stock, and prepare to shift to alternatives.