France bans plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables
FRANCE has banned the use of plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables.
PARIS-Abanontheuseof plastic to package a range of fruit and vegetables came into force in France on Saturday, to the dismay of the sector’s pack- aging industry.
Environmentalists have long campaigned against single-use plastics as pollution wors- ens globally while President Emmanuel Macron has backed the move defending a “pragmatic” approach.
The October decree covers for example the sale of under 1.5 kilos of apples.
However, the full legislation will not be applied until 2026, allowing firms to adapt, in- cluding on the sale of red fruits considered fragile.
Six months has also been granted to use up existing plas- tic packaging stocks.
“We were never consulted,”
complained Laurent Grandin, head of the fruit and vegetable sector’s Interfel association.
He said the costs were “in- surmountable” for small com- panies who would have to keep using plastic to protect exports, notably to Britain, a major cli- ent for apples.
Pomanjou produces up to 40, 000 tonnes of apples an- nually in the Loire valley and has over the last three years introduced 100 percent card- board packing.
However packing costs have as a result soared 20 percent to 30 percent, said company rep- resentative Arnaud de Puineuf.
Big supermarket group Casino said it will now sell tomatoes in cardboard pack- aging and provide customers with paper or cellulose bags.
The packaging compa- nies say the October 8 decree caught them by surprise, par- ticularly the ban on recycled plastics.
“We have client firms … who will have to stop their fruit and vegetable packing activi- ty, even though they have been working on alternatives using less plastic or recycled plastic
