France to set penalties on non-recycled plastic
France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, an environment ministry official said Sunday.
Brune Poirson, secretary of state for ecological transition, said the move was one of several to be implemented in coming years, including a deposit-refund scheme for plastic bottles.
"Declaring war on plastic is not enough. We need to transform the French economy," she told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
Under the new plan, products with recycled plastic packaging could cost up to 10 percent less, Poirson said.
"When there's a choice between two bottles, one made of recycled plastic and the other without, the first will be less expensive," she said.
"When non-recycled plastic will cost more, that will eliminate much of the excessive packaging," Poirson said.
Flore Berlingen of the association Zero Waste France told AFP: "We're hoping that companies play along so that clients aren't the ones penalised" by the new measure.
Emmanuel Guichard of the Elipso federation of plastic packaging makers gave a cautious welcome to the French plan.
"For bottles, giving consumers a choice is possible. But we can't forget other items -- today there's no recycled plastic available for yogurt pots," he said.
Ubiquitous images on social media of marine fauna suffocated by plastics, as well as initiatives such as "plastic attacks" -- which see shoppers dump all the packaging of their purchases outside supermarkets -- have begun to spur political responses around the world.
The French plan is "part of the solution, albeit incomplete, since it is only about recycling and not reducing plastic," remarked Fanny Vismara, an organiser of "plastic attacks" in France.
She noted that glass, unlike plastic, is "infinitely recyclable".
Berlingen added: "Recycling is necessary but not sufficient. We absolutely must cut off the flow and have more stringent measures against over-packaging and disposable objects."
Comments