Well, it seems that there is a kind of global movement towards a world with less plastics or as I prefer a Plasticless Future. Let’s see three recent, hopeful news.
Last week it was announced that the Estonian Ministry of the Environment plans on banning free lightweight plastic bags in stores beginning July 2017 and raising the price of heavier plastic shopping bags available in stores up to one euro apiece beginning in 2019. The purpose of the ban is to avoid a situation in which the consumer can take lightweight plastic carrier bags for free in order to substitute a more expensive plastic bag. In addition, the consumption of plastic bags per person must be cut to just 90 bags per year by the end of 2019. Surveys carried out by the ministry and the Estonian Association of Retailers indicate that Estonian residents go through an average of about 40 plastic shopping bags and approximately 165 extra lightweght bags per year.
In UK, microbeads, tiny pieces of plastic in personal beauty products, that end up in the oceans and are swallowed by marine life, will be banned from sale in the UK by the end of 2017, the government announced on Saturday, September 2nd. Read more about microbeads and the need for a global ban here.
Plastic bags have been banned in France from July 1. This measure concerns supermarkets, pharmacies, bakeries, petrol stations, covered and open-air markets. Bags thicker than 50 microns are still allowed on the basis they are reusable. The ban on plastic bags came into effect in two stages: on July 1, 2016 for “lightweight” shopping bags and January 1, 2017 for packaging bags for fruit and vegetables.
Let’s hope that this movement will go on and cover all the countries of the world…
