France’s capital to put an end to the distribution of plastic bags

As the Emballage packaging fair drew to a close on Friday last week, the Paris city hall issued a statement that it is launching a plan to “put an end to the distribution of plastic bags” from 2007.

The plan is intended to reduce waste, with plastic bags accounting for 8,000tpa and costing €1.6m each year.

The statement from the city hall follows a meeting held on 20 November between Lyne Cohen-Solal, responsible for commercial affairs, and Yves Contassot, responsible for environment and waste issue and says that the city of Paris recommends the prohibition of the distribution of plastic bags at retail outlets that would otherwise only come into force under national legislation as from 1 January 2010.

Under the national legislation, bags made of biodegradable plastics should still be permitted as from 2010. But a statement by the city of Paris says that it plans to obtain signatures of a Charta with trade associations aiming to eliminate disposable bags of petroleum origin in 2007.

It would appear from the city of Paris statement that only plastic bags made from renewable materials will be allowed by the Charta, namely not biodegradable bags made from petroleum-based products.

The statement concludes that disposable bags have become a symbol of waste production and their environmental impact is unacceptable.

(Cf. news of June 27, 2006.)

Source

PRW.com Nov. 27, 2006.

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