France proposed plastic packaging ban risks higher-carbon substitutions – trade groups

LONDON (ICIS)–Plans by the French government to ban plastic packaging for many perishable goods such risks pushing retailers to shift to higher-carbon alternatives, and does not leave sufficient time for alternative solutions to be brought to market, according to industry trade groups.

France’s government announced this week that plastics packaging will be banned for most fruit and vegetables from the start of 2022, which the country’s Ministry of Agriculture claims will eliminate a  billion items of plastic packaging per year. An estimated 37% of fruit and vegetable products in France are sold in packaging, the ministry added.

Announced a little over two months before the planned implementation period, the speed of the introduction of the legislation poses the risk of pushing substitution to alternatives with a higher carbon footprint, according to Virginia Janssens, managing director of PlasticsEurope.

“PlasticsEurope strongly opposes such measures which risk substitution to materials with a higher environmental footprint, are not based on any life-cycle analysis, and do not consider the risk of increasing food waste and its associated environmental impact,” she told ICIS.

“We support a transition to a circular economy for plastics including carefully planned out measures to reduce any overpackaging. Unjustified bans will only threaten that transition and create negative environmental and socio-economic impacts,” she added.

Polymer sector players have long claimed that hasty legislation against disposable plastics towards alternatives such as glass would result in significantly higher carbon emissions.

The new French government is expected to roll out the new legislation gradually, with a six-month window for retailers to work through existing plastic packaging stocks and an extended timetable to 2026 for fruits and vegetable with significant risk of deterioration when sold in bulk.

No impact studies were commissioned before the institution of the new laws, and the move brings in the changes before alternative sources have been fully developed, according to Christian Thery, president of  France-based plastics association Elipso.

“Considering the solutions currently available and the functionalities of plastic packaging, the announced timetable amounts to betting on hypothetical alternative packaging solutions in sufficient quantities that have yet to be identified, developed and implemented,” he said.

The move could also impact the shift towards a circular economy by prohibiting recyclable plastics, he added.

“Manufacturers are investing to develop the recycling of plastic packaging, as  part of a virtuous circular economy. Let’s not reduce these efforts to nothing with announcements,” he added.

Bans and taxes on plastics and disposable plastic packaging are becoming increasingly common in Europe and around the world, with Spain also moving towards a similar ban to the French system from 2023 onward.

Focus article by Tom Brown.

Front page image: The fruit and vegetable section of a supermarket in France
Image credit: Bruno Levesque/via ZUMA Press/Shutterstock