On the occasion of the 5th International Bag Free Day on Thursday, 3rd of July, the Minister for Ecology Ségolène Royal announced the removal of plastic bags starting from the 1st of January 2016.
This measure was supported by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, President of the GoodPlanet Foundation. During the press conference, after saying “well done” he added: “The developing countries like Mali, Senegal or Haiti have already banned the plastic bags. I hope, we, wealthy countries, will be able to do so. Otherwise, it is revolting!”
A common sense measure, to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags means taking part in the environment preservation, reduction of waste and aim to reduce our oil dependants. The maw project about the plastic bags ban is part of a 5 measure series for the biodiversity.
Ségolène Royal thanked several NGO representatives who support the movement, including the LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux), France Nature Environnement, IFREMER (Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer) and the Surfrider Foundation Europe, that provides a civic mobilisation kit to all , you can download it here.
This measure is part of the sustainable development concept and should also enable the relocation of a part of the plastic bags production which is supposed to be use once. Those bags, mostly used only a few minutes, take hundreds of year to disappear. A lot of plastic waste end in the ocean and in the stomach of the fishes and marine animals. Today, we estimate 88% of the ocean surface are contaminated by plastic micro fragments.
Find out more on GoodPlanet.info
