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France bid to go green with new law
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FRANCE’S latest efforts to reduce pollution will also affect nature lovers hitting the countryside for an outdoor meal: Under a controversial ban, picnickers won’t be able to buy plastic goblets to drink their beloved wine, or plastic knives to make ham and butter baguette sandwiches.
Life in the office will be different, too, as coffee machines will no longer cough out plastic cups, as part of the country’s plans to be more environmentally friendly.
The new measure, which took effect last month, gives producers until 2020 to ensure that all disposable dishes sold in France are made of biologically sourced materials and can be composted. It follows a ban on plastic bags, in place since July.
While several other countries and some US states have also banned plastic bags, France appears to be the first country to introduce a blanket ban on plastic dishware. It comes after Paris hosted a landmark conference last year on fighting global warming, and as the Socialist government tries to push France toward the forefront of environmental progress.
While ecologists lauded the French law and hope it sets an example for other countries, opponents argue that it hurt consumers, and that the French measures violate European Union rules on free movement of goods.
Pack2Go Europe, a Brussels-based organization representing European packaging manufacturers, says it will keep fighting it.
“We are urging the European Commission to do the right thing and to take legal action against France for infringing European law,” Pack2Go Europe secretary general Eamonn Bates said.
“If they don’t, we will.”
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