Vote today on EU clamp down on plastic carrier bags
Draft rules requiring EU countries to cut use of the most polluting plastic bags will be put to a vote in Strasbourg today.
With pollution of water bodies and aquatic ecosystems a major environmental problem, the law would require EU member states to choose between two options:
- take measures to ensure that average yearly consumption does not exceed 90 lightweight bags per citizen by 2019 and 40 by 2025, or
- ensure that, by 2018, these bags are not handed to shoppers free of charge.
According to the European Parliament website, in 2010, every EU citizen used an estimated 198 plastic carrier bags, some 90% of which were lightweight. Estimates suggest more than eight billion plastic carrier bags became litter in the EU the same year.
Carrefour also seeking alternatives to plastic bags for loose fruit and vegetables
French retail giant Carrefour said in its recently published 2014 annual report that it stopped handing out free plastic bags in 2012 in consolidated stores in all its countries except Argentina and Brazil, where the process is underway.
“In anticipation of future European regulations, the Group is working to identify alternatives to the plastic bags currently used for loose purchases of fruits and vegetables,” it also said.
source: EU Parliament
image: By Trosmisiek (Public domain) via Wikimedia Commons
