Will France Ban Plastic Certain Plastic Tableware Products?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382658)
Rockingham, Australia
February 4, 2017 11:27pm CST
Following my recent post on plastic shopping bags, I was reminded of this news item which I missed writing about at the time. Back in September 2016, The Telegraph reported that, from 2020, France will ban the use of plastic crockery and cutlery unless it comes from biologically sourced materials.
Energy Transition for Green Growth, a French environmental initiative, is aimed at tackling climate change and the reduced use of plastic tableware is part of this. However it seems such a law might go against a Brussels-based organisation called Pack2Go Europe which represents European packaging manufacturers. This group also argues that if the public believes the packaging to be biodegradable they will be less concerned about littering.
It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this initiative.
The photo is of my non-plastic tulip bowls.
Plastic crockery and cutlery is to be banned in France unless it is made from biologically sourced materials.
16 people like this
16 responses
@topffer (42155)
• France
5 Feb 17
I do not know if it will be enforced or not : the plastic industry is lobbying EU to give sanctions to France and threatens to sue us. It is already perfectly possible to produce biodegradable crockery today, but they find it too expensive for vending machines and ready meals. We will see.
4 people like this
@topffer (42155)
• France
5 Feb 17
@JudyEv It is not good for their business, as it would mean less profits for them. They were also against the ban of plastic bags, and they are now offering biodegradable bags. What is not normal is the lobbying done in the EU by the industry. Many regulations taken in Brussels have been taken just to eliminate small business or artisans to offer more profits to big companies. It is because of this that many people are rejecting EU. They are speaking actually of going towards more unification, but if they want to be followed, they will have to fix many things before.
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
5 Feb 17
I think if it is sturdy reusable washable plastic it should be OK - They are handy for travelling with as they are pretty well unbreakble. it's cheap flimsy supposedly disposable forks such as given out with fast food-take-ways that might be a problem.
2 people like this
@Shellyann36 (11383)
• United States
6 Feb 17
I love the tulip bowls! How will they enforce this ban? I am assuming that they can only enforce that businesses use the sourced materials as opposed to enforcing it for each individual household. Meaning, that if a company is selling a product, the product has to be kept in the plastic source made from biologically sourced materials.
1 person likes this
@Shellyann36 (11383)
• United States
8 Feb 17
@JudyEv Such a shame. Big money always sweeps in and stops progress.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153529)
• India
5 Feb 17
Those are pretty bowls.
Banning plastic altogether seems odd to me.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153529)
• India
6 Feb 17
@JudyEv No one has succeeded so far that began with plastic bags. No hopes for any further bans going by what we see.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128856)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Feb 17
To me, this is an exercise in futility. The reason I feel this way is because:
1) France is only 1 of 196 countries on this planet. Unless the other 195 countries follow suit, it will make very little difference in the overall state of our planet.
2) I truly believe our planet has gone beyond the point of no return for fixing global climate change. I've heard many scientists say that even if every human disappeared from the planet today, the damage has already been done and global warming and climate change will continue on for hundreds of years into the future.
I applaud their efforts, but they are about 40-50 years too late in enacting this ban.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128856)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Feb 17
@JudyEv That is true. Otherwise, we'd feel totally helpless. As long as humans have a sense of hope, they are bound to come up with innovative solutions.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43669)
• Denver, Colorado
7 Feb 17
Leave it to big business to put up a fight.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
6 Feb 17
not a bad idea, that sort of thing really adds up, we also need more ways to have the plastics we do use recycled!
@JudyEv (382658)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Feb 17
It will be interesting to see what they come up with.
