Dual use: According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the compostable bags for fruit and vegetables offered in four Straubing supermarkets have been reused by numerous consumers as garbage bags. This is the result of a year-long pilot project, it said. This took place under the leadership of the Central Agricultural Raw Material Marketing and Energy Network (Carmen) in the Lower Bavarian city and is considered to be unique in Germany.
Free organic bags had been made available to consumers in the east and vegetable sections of four supermarkets. Older customers in particular used the bags, while younger customers usually did without bags for packaging loose fruit and vegetables. The majority of users then used the bags to dispose of kitchen waste. The biodegradable bags have increased the willingness of consumers to collect organic waste, it said.
Bavaria’s Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters) said that the model project proves “that our strategy of developing a bio-based, sustainable economy is the right way”. The organic bag protects fossil, finite resources and at the same time promotes natural material cycles. The bags also reduced the pollution of farmland with dangerous microplastics. Aiwanger hopes that many cities will follow Straubing’s example and that other municipal waste disposal companies will allow the bag to be used as organic waste.
According to a ministry spokesman, only bags that are made from renewable raw materials and are biodegradable are permitted in Italy, France and Austria. The bags used in Straubing consist of corn starch, among other things, and rot within six weeks. The project is part of the Bavarian bioeconomy strategy with more than 50 measures for a bio-based economy.