Italy goes ahead with outright ban on plastic bags despite protests by UK

Plastic Recycling  |  2013-06-11 08:18:37   |   By

The Government of Italy passed a law banning the sale of plastic bags in the country, despite protests by the UK

ROME (Scrap Monster) : The Government of Italy passed a law banning the sale of plastic bags in the country, despite protests by the UK.

Almost three months back, Italy had notified the European Commission (EC) that it intends to ban the usage of non-biodegradable plastic bags. The UK had formally lodged complaint before the EC to prevent Italy from passing such a decree law. According to the UK government, such a law would breach the EU internal market rules and would create roadblocks to free movement of materials in the EU internal market.

On the other hand, Italy refuted the arguments saying that passing of such a law would discourage the use of disposable bags and save the nation from the environmental hazards caused by accidental dispersion of bags.

The European Commission is currently assessing the next possible steps to be taken. It is expected that towards the month-end, the EC would come out with a non-binding recommendation on how EU countries should treat plastic bags. The EC does not favor outright ban on plastic bags, but intends to charge from customers for usage of plastic bags.