Another country is soon to join the nations imposing plastic bag bans – Germany. According to the country’s environment minister, Svenja Schulze, the country will enforce a ban on plastic shopping bags because voluntary agreements with retailers to curb usage have been sufficient but not yet yielded good enough results.
In 2016 an agreement had been reached with German businesses to impose a fee for plastic bags. Since then, there has been a 64% decline in plastic bag use, from 2015 figures according to the German Federal Ministry for the Environment.
To make sure the number continues to decline, Schulze told the Bild am Sonntag, a national Sunday newspaper published in Berlin: “My ministry will get a plastic bag ban on its way.” She did not give a timetable for the plan but added that her aim was “that we get out of the throw-away society and that overall, we use less plastic”.
This move is but a piece of a much bigger picture. It is part of a wider strategy by the European parliament to tackle the use of plastics in an effort to improve pollution. For instance, in the UK a fee was also introduced on disposable plastic bags in 2015. Because of it, their use in main supermarkets has fallen by more than 90% according to recent figures.
In addition, plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds are to be banned in England as of April next year. That ban was officially confirmed by the country’s environment secretary Michael Gove after an open consultation revealed “overwhelming” public support for the move.
Gove said:
Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect our environment. These items are often used for just a few minutes but take hundreds of years to break down, ending up in our seas and oceans and harming precious marine life. So today I am taking action to turn the tide on plastic pollution, and ensure we leave our environment in a better state for future generations.
