Plastic bag ban from July 1

THROWAWAY plastic bags will be banned from shops from July 1, the Environment Ministry has announced.

It is the third deadline this year for removing the flimsy bags that the government has given, having previously set dates of January 1 and April 1.

The environment minister Ségolène Royal said the ban was on bags thinner than 50microns. She said shops had been given more time to adapt and find new suppliers of bags which must be thicker and reusable plastic or made from paper.

She said plastic bags were a massive waste as they were used for only a few minutes but could last in the environment for centuries. The pollution from plastic bags and other waste in the seas had seen the creation of five new continents - with the one in the north Pacific six times the size of France.

Lighter plastic bags will still be available for holding and weighing fruit and vegetables or fish and meat however these too are set to be banned.

From January 1 2017, shops will be expected to have replaced them with alternative biodegradable plastics, such as those made from potato starch.

According to figures from the European Union, every person in France uses an average 80 one-use plastic bags - and 1,000 are given out every second. Globally eight billion such bags are used each year.

Photo: Trosmisiek