The government of France has announced it has put in place a ban on plastic packaging on many fresh unprocessed fruits and vegetables as of Jan. 1, with a progressive ban after that for the most fragile cases like peaches and berries.
Barbara Pompili, Minister of Ecological Transition, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery and Julien Denormandie, Minister of Agriculture and Food, signed the decree governing the ban on packaging plastics around unprocessed fresh fruits and vegetables.
French authorities said in a statement that an estimated 37% of fruits and vegetables in France are sold in packaging now. The measure will eliminate more than a billion unnecessary plastic packaging each year, according to the statement.
From Jan. 1, 2022, the statement said around thirty fresh unprocessed fruits and vegetables will be sold without plastic, including around fifteen vegetables: leeks, zucchini, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes and carrots, round tomatoes, onions and Turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, squash, parsnip, radish, Jerusalem artichoke, root vegetables.
On the fruit side, these are notably apples, pears, oranges, clementines, kiwis, tangerines, lemons, grapefruits, plums, melons, pineapples, mangoes, passion fruit, persimmons, etc. that will be found on stalls without plastic packaging from 2022.
The decree provides for a gradual application of this ban so that by 2026 at the latest, all fruits and vegetables are sold without plastic packaging, according to the statement.
The decree on plastic packaging was published Oct. 12 and provides a timetable for finding and deploying alternative solutions by June 30, 2026, for fruits and vegetables presenting a significant risk of deterioration when sold in bulk. Those examples include peaches and apricots, fully ripe fruits; sprouted seeds, red fruits, and some vegetables.
A tolerance period of 6 months for the disposal of packaging stocks is also planned, the French government said.
