France recently became the first country on the globe to outlaw the use of plastic cutlery, cups, bags, and plates. The law was put forth by the Europe Ecologie-Greens Party.
The plastic ware industry is a billion-dollar market. The bill will ensure energy savings as well as solve the pollution issue created by used plastic containers.
The plastic ware, plastic food packaging, and other such industries have been instructed to ensure by 2020 that their products are compostable, eco-friendly and sourced from biological materials.
Pack2Go has opposed the law citing it as a violation of the free movement of goods rule. The firm has also emphasized that no tangible proof of better environmental effects of the bio-sourced products has been discovered.
General Eamonn Bates from Pack2Go said:
“We are urging the European Commission to do the right thing and to take legal action against France for infringing European law. If they don’t, we will. Also, the ban will be understood by consumers to mean that it is OK to leave this packaging behind in the countryside after use because it’s easily biodegradable in nature. That’s nonsense! It may even make the litter problem worse.”
The effects of plastics on the human body have been documented in detail. From hormonal changes to the absorption of chemicals by the human body, there are countless examples of how plastic containers adversely affect people’s health.
Then again, there is a problem of pollution. Only five percent of the plastics produced are ever recovered. 50 percent of the products get thrown away after one use.
Some people might oppose the law, for they could no longer take disposable plastic cutlery for their picnics. However, even if you are responsible enough not to throw away your plastic garbage, the chemical production process is quite harmful to the environment.
Most of the plastic bags, containers, and cutlery are made from the non-recyclable material and end up clogging the landfills. If these are incinerated, it adds to the carbon emissions.
However, the bio-degradable materials have issues like methane-emission. It appears as if the right solution to the problem is yet to be discovered.