Coaster on the ban on plastic packaging around certain fruits and vegetables. Friday, less than a year after the entry into force of this law, the Council of State canceled the implementing decree, which it considers “illegal”, and asked the government to write a new text.
Courgettes, peppers, cucumbers, apples, pears or oranges, etc. Since January 1, 2022, many unprocessed fresh fruits and vegetables could no longer be sold in plastic packaging. The implementing decree for this measure was published in October 2021 and notably set tolerances for plastic packaging until 2026 for the most fragile such as red fruits.
“Not necessarily a risk of deterioration”
It is this progressive calendar that has been deemed illegal by the highest administrative body. According to her, the State has exceeded the mandate that had been set for it under the law relating to the fight against waste and the circular economy. The latter had “entrusted the government with the task of listing the only fruits and vegetables presenting a risk of deterioration if they were sold in bulk, in order to exempt them from the ban on plastic packaging in a definitive way”, explains the Council of Europe. state in a press release.
However, in the implementing decree, the government “included in its list of fruits and vegetables that do not necessarily present a risk of deterioration”. The body also points to the fact that “for each of these fruits and vegetables, a period during which they could continue to be sold in plastic packaging after January 1, 2022” is fixed, which should not be the case. The State will also have to pay the sum of 2,000 euros to the Alliance Plasturgie & Composites du futur union, the Polyvia union, the French Federation of Fruit, Vegetable and Horticultural Cooperation (Felcoop) and the Interprofessional Association of Fruits and Vegetables. costs.
Before this ban came into force, 37% of fruit and vegetables in France were sold in plastic packaging. The ban on this packaging, targeting around 30 of them, should “avoid more than a billion unnecessary plastic packaging each year”, the government said last year.