Eco friendly and reusable bags
Nowadays habits have changed in France ! Weekly shopping is more and more done in order to fulfill eco friendly and green objectives. The Bio label is mostly present unlike plastic bags which are disappearing. In fact, the plastic bags we used to find on the shops are now prohibited by a new French law. You must have your own reusable bag or you have to buy one, this is about a new lifestyle imposed in all shops. It used to be a small detail to pack our purchases but it has become a contemporary challenge thanks to a general awareness about the earth impact both in the short and in the long term.
Last year, in France, on the 1st of June, the Article number 75 of the Energy Transaction Act had put an end to the provision of all the non-reusable bags. However, little bags for fruits or vegetables were still available. Thus, this year, on January, this measure was strengthened by a new rule established in order to prohibit non eco friendly and non reusable plastic bags. All disposable bags must have a specific composition. The law stipulates that plastic bags with a thickness greater than 50 μm are allowed. Furthermore, other plastic bags must come from bio based material such as peelings or other organic wastes in order to be compostable in the future. They must be based on bio-sourced materials such as corn, potato or tapioca starch. In addition, suppliers have to provide information on these bags with references about the composition and its content of bio-sourced materials. And, be ready, this is not the end, this rule is going to evolve! There are previsions for the next few years. In 2025, the content of bio based materials for these bags will have to reach 60%.
By this way, nowadays we can only find reusable bags or non-reusable eco-friendly bags and all the shops have to respect it. Some control operations are organized to verify the daily use of these plastic bags. To fulfill the regulation, people must change their habits but also the shopkeepers. In fact, they need to find new suppliers to produce plastic bags according to the new features. Some countries as Vietnam is more and more targeted for this kind of production due to its industrial sector that is soaring and cheaper than the others. Workers are performant and cheap for so it becomes a real asset for the Vietnamese economy
On the other hand, this change has an economic impact in our lives because these bags have costs. By this way, when you do not plan to do shopping and you do not have your own bag you have to buy a new one and they can be quite expensive. In fact, some shops take margins, it can be a business so take care! From 9 to 25 cents for paper bags, from 7 to 22 cents for plastic bags and shopping bags can increase until 3€80. To elope this expense, think about having your own reusable shopping bag with you.
And, to thank you for your time you spent reading this article about reusable bags, we would like to share with you a valuable information. All the reusable bags you could have bought in a supermarket in France are exchangeable for life! Indeed, you can return them to the store where you bought them to get new one! Change your style by changing your shopping reusable bags whenever you want!
Links:
http://www.60millions-mag.com/2017/02/24/les-sacs-plastiques-font-un-peu-de-resistance-10995
http://www.notre-planete.info/actualites/3868-sacs-plastiques-lois-France-Europe
http://www.newspress.fr/Communique_FR_301175_6964.aspx
http://fr.timesofisrael.com/les-supermarches-feront-payer-les-sacs-plastiques-a-partir-de-dimanche/
https://www.service-public.fr/professionnels-entreprises/actualites/008384
