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The Bundestag decides to ban plastic bags
| Reading time: 2 minutes
Only the FDP and AfD voted against the ban on plastic bags
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
The Union, the SPD and the Greens have voted in the Bundestag in favor of a ban on plastic bags. The law will apply from January 2022. Deutsche Umwelthilfe voiced criticism despite the initiative. WWF is also skeptical.
reThe Bundestag approved a ban on lightweight plastic bags on Thursday night. The CDU / CSU, the SPD and the Greens voted in favor of the grand coalition draft for a first law amending the Packaging Law. The left abstained, the FDP and AfD voted against. With the new regulation, the federal government wants to further reduce the consumption of bags, which had already decreased significantly in 2016 following the entry into force of a voluntary agreement between the Ministry of the Environment and the German Trade Association.
The ban should apply to plastic bags with a wall thickness of 15 to 50 microns. This does not apply to certain very light plastic bags, which are mainly used by consumers to transport loose fruits and vegetables. Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) had argued in the past that a ban on these “shirt bags” would lead to more use of more expensive packaging. At the same time, he campaigned among consumers for greater use of reusable plastic or polyester bags.
On Wednesday, the Bundestag’s Environment Committee, with the votes of the coalition factions, adopted an amendment by the parliamentary groups CDU / CSU and SPD, which provides for an extension of the transition period to January 1, 2022. This it should make it easier for retailers to deplete their existing stocks of plastic bags. Originally, only a six-month transition period was planned.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) criticized that this unnecessarily lengthened the end of the plastic bag. For yet another year, 3,700 disposable plastic bags were generated per minute as waste, often ending up in the environment.
Environmental protection organization WWF warned Thursday that it was basically okay to produce less single-use plastic and put it into circulation. However, plastic bags only account for around one percent of plastic consumption in Germany, so it is particularly important to promote reusable alternatives.
Greens’ environmental policy spokesperson Bettina Hoffmann called for “a consistent waste prevention policy and a true reusable strategy.” This should include binding avoidance targets for packaging waste, as well as a legal priority for reusable ones. In doing so, “we must also think beyond the beverage sector.” These solutions are also required for food packaging and packaging shipping.
