Originally scheduled for January 1st 2016 and postponed a first time in April 2016, the ban on single-use plastic bags at the checkout will finally enforces from July 1st 2016 in France. Highly anticipated by shopkeepers and suppliers, the decree has been published on last February 1st, "in order that manufacturers and distributors can get used to it as soon as possible, and use their stocks until this date" announced Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Ségolène Royal. Plastic bags with a thickness smaller than 50 micrometres will be forbidden at the stores’ checkouts, without volume consideration, free or charged. In January 2017, the plastic bags or packaging which are not at the checkout and contain foodstuffs will be also prohibited. Consumers will have reusable bags or paper bags at the checkout.

Photo credit: Still AB/Shutterstock.com

Several hundred years to disappear
Every year, 8 billion plastic bags are abandoned and need several hundred years to degrade. According to the ADEME, Environment and Energy Management Agency (Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie): "The lifetime of an abandoned plastic bag on the ground is estimated at 200 years." Theses bags affect durably the marine fauna: more than 100 000 marine animals, and notably turtles, die confined in a plastic bag or after eating it by mixing it up with a prey. A report of the Ellen McArthur Foundation, presented at the World Economic Forum of Davos last May 20th on plastic packaging, incidentally proves that there will be more plastic than fishes in the ocean in 2050. As a reminder, this measure against the use of plastic bags is planned by the energy transition law (loi sur la transition énergétique n° 2015-992), adopted on July 22nd 2016.

Know more about the decree on the ban on single-use plastic bags. (in French)

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