Pouch, backpack or carrier net - but no plastic bag: Germany's cash registers should be banned disposable plastic bags. The bill by Minister of the Environment Svenja Schulze has been approved by the Federal Cabinet.
It's about the plastic bags that you get in the supermarket or other stores when paying and usually cost a bit in the meantime. But thin bags for fruit or vegetables are just as allowed as more stable plastic bags.
"Plastic bags are the epitome of resource waste: They are made from crude oil and often used only a few minutes," said SPD politician Schulze. The ban is a signal against disposable mentality.
1.6 billion plastic bags sold per year
Since 2016, there is a voluntary commitment of the trade, the plastic bags at the till not rauszugeben free. Overall, consumption fell from more than 70 bags per capita in 2015 to around 20 in the past year. According to Schulze, however, 1.6 billion pieces per year are still consumed in Germany.
That so-called shirt bag on fruit and vegetable stall are allowed, have environmental protection reasons, said Schulze. "If we forbid that, we would get a lot more packaging." Then apples and pears would be offered more in plastic again. For alternatives such as reusable networks one is talking to the trade.
After the Cabinet decision, the Bundestag must deal with the law. If it has passed the Bundestag and Bundesrat, there should still be a transitional period of about six months for the bags, so that stores can issue remainders to the customers. The countries are responsible for enforcement. If traders do not use the ban properly, they face fines of up to € 100,000.
Paper bags are loud Schulze a "sham"
Schulze says paper bags are not a good alternative. It also calls for so-called bio-based and biodegradable tote bags a ban. These are a "real Mogelpackung" and more plastic than bio, said Schulze. They often did not recycle. Frequently plants for the production of plastic were grown in monocultures and sprayed with pesticide.
The Greens does not go far enough the planned law on plastic bag ban. It needs a "binding tax on all remaining disposable bags," demanded her environmental spokeswoman in the Bundestag, Bettina Hoffmann.
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"The ban on plastic bags pretends to consumers to behave ecologically through the use of alternatives such as the paper bag," said FDP environmental policy Judith Skudelny. The Federal Government would have to commission studies on which type of carrier bag should be cut off.
Praise came from the German environmental aid: The ban was "important contribution to waste prevention and against waste in the countryside," said recycling expert Thomas Fischer.