France To Ban Plastic Packaging For 30 Types Of Fruit And Vegetables From January 2022

Illustration of plastic packaging for vegetables and fruit. (Wikimedia Commons/ChinWai Lee)

JAKARTA - The French government has announced that it will ban the use of plastic packaging on about 30 fruits and vegetables from January 2022.

The effort is part of a waste management law that will come into effect next year. About 37 percent of fruit and vegetables in France are currently sold in plastic packaging.

The new measure will eliminate about one billion "unnecessary plastic packages," the French Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, and Finance said, citing Euronews October. 12.

This provision will, among other things, cover vegetables such as leeks, courgettes, eggplant, bell peppers, cucumbers, potatoes and carrots, round tomatoes, onions and radishes, cabbage, cauliflower, pumpkin, parsnips, radishes, Jerusalem artichokes, and root vegetables.

Meanwhile, the types of fruits that include apples, pears, oranges, kiwis, lemons, oranges, plums, melons, pineapples, mangoes, and others are also no longer sold in plastic.

The ban will be extended to all fruit and vegetables by June 2026, the Environment Ministry said, to find "alternative solutions" to plastic packaging. This rule applies to ripe fruit and berries that can spoil if sold in large quantities.

Meanwhile, Interfel's inter-professional sector association criticized the government's decision, stating that plastic is currently being used to 'limit food waste' and would be difficult to implement at the start of the year.

The sector currently accounts for about 65 percent of fruit and vegetables sold in bulk, Interfel said, adding that it represents "less than 1.5 percent of plastic packaging used in the food sector."

"It is unfortunate that some of the pragmatic proposals formulated by the industry were not accepted, such as the use of 100 percent recycled plastic for fruit and vegetable packaging (authorized in all other sectors!)," explained Interfel, quoted by Euronews December 19.