France's proposed plastic packaging ban could face higher carbon replacement risks

The French government's plan to ban the use of plastic packaging for many perishable goods will not only leave enough time for non-alternative solutions to emerge, but it could also prompt retailers to switch to alternatives with a higher carbon footprint, according to industry trade groups
.

The French government announced last week that plastic packaging will be banned in most fruit and vegetable markets starting in 2022
.
The French Agriculture Ministry said the move would allow the country to eliminate 1 billion pieces of plastic packaging each year
.
It is estimated that around 37% of fruit and vegetable products in France are sold in plastic packaging
.

Virginia Janssens, managing director of PlasticsEurope, said the bill was announced more than two months before the planned implementation period, and the speed at which the legislation was introduced had the potential to push people to use alternatives with a higher carbon footprint
.

"PlasticsEurope strongly opposes measures to risk substitution of materials with a higher environmental footprint, not based on any life cycle analysis, without taking into account the risk of increased food waste and associated environmental impacts," she said
.

She added: "We support the transition of plastics to a circular economy, including well-planned measures to reduce excessive packaging
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Unreasonable bans only threaten this transition and cause negative environmental and socio-economic impacts
.
"

Players in the polymer industry have long claimed that hasty legislation banning single-use plastics and using alternatives such as glass would lead to a huge increase in carbon emissions
.

The new French government is expected to gradually introduce new legislation to give retailers six months to dispose of existing plastic packaging stocks, and to extend the timetable to 2026 to deal with fruit and vegetables that have a significant risk of spoilage when sold in bulk.
vegetables
.

Christian Thery, president of France-based plastics association Elipso, said that prior to the introduction of the new bill, no agency had been commissioned to carry out post-impact studies, a move that would bring changes before alternative sources were fully exploited
.

“The published timeline amounts to a bet on a sufficient number of hypothetical alternative packaging solutions, given the solutions currently available and the capabilities of plastic packaging,
” he said
.

The move could also affect the shift to a circular economy by banning recyclable plastics
.

“Manufacturers are investing in the development of recycling of plastic packaging as part of a virtuous circular economy
.
Hopefully the new policy will not nullify these efforts
,” he added
.