Legislation requires food sellers and manufacturers to source biodegradable cooking utensils
Non-biodegradable single-use cups, plates and cutlery face are set to be banned in France from 2020 in a bid to cut down on waste, according to legislation set out by the country's Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy.
The ban on disposable plastic utensils is part of a suite of environmental laws passed last year called the Energy Transition for Green Growth, which also includes proposals regarding renewable energy, clean transport and renovating buildings, as well as a ban on supermarket plastic bags that came into force in July.
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The act refers to a planned "ban on the distribution of disposable cooking utensils" but is not due to come into force until 2020 in order to provide manufacturers and others affected by the legislation time to adjust and source more biologically-friendly or biodegradable utensils.
Once it comes into force in 2020, it is thought France would be the first country in the world to place such restrictions on single-use cutlery, cups and cooking utensils.
According to ScienceAlert, 4.73 million plastic goblets were discarded in France last year, and French ministers have stipulated the new law will require 50 per cent of the material used to procure disposable cutlery to be organic and compostable, rising to 60 per cent by 2025.
However, a packaging trade body based in Brussels, Pack2go Europe, has this month come out against the ban and is reportedly urging the European Commission to take legal action against the French government over the law.
Pack2go Europe secretary general Eamonn Bates told the Associated Press there was little evidence biodegradable cutlery and packaging was any more environmentally beneficial than plastic.
"We are urging the European Commission to do the right thing and to take legal action against France for infringing European law," Bates is quoted as saying. "If they don't, we will."
Bates explained that the ban "would be understood by consumers to mean that it is OK to leave this packaging behind in the countryside after use because it's easily bio-degradable in nature", adding that this "may even make the litter problem worse".
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