Plastic cups and cutlery will be banned in France

From my perspective, France is a unique country in which liberal ideology and exclusive thoughts are mixed. France seems to respect its traditional culture very much. It developed a symbol of home-made food. On the other hand, it establishes a law for protecting local bookstores. Their policy would be hardly understood by American people. The issue of burkini brought a broad argument in France, recently.

My past entry: France set symbol of home-made food

My past entry: Anti-Amazon Law rise in France

My entry: Burkini bans in France beach

And very recently, the French government decided to ban plastic cups, plates, and cutlery from the market. It looks very aggressive regulation. This legislation is planned to be enforced in 2020.

Independent: France bans plastic cups, plates and cutlery

The purpose of this law is to prevent the deterioration of climate change. Indeed, products made from synthetic resin are very common in modern society, and it needs heavy oil to refine resin. Also, the resin is so stable that it is hardly resolved in natural surroundings. Therefore, reducing resin products is considered to mitigate the problem of environmental contamination.

However, the effect size of eliminating plastic goods is uncertain. Furthermore, there are some newly resin products which are said to be nature-friendly. The law commits that biologically-sourced materials are permitted to be used continuously. But it is unsure such goods are more affirmative to the environment.

Moreover, some organization criticizes this law as violating the EU rule in which free movement of goods is guaranteed. It is another issue, and rather similar to the argument of taxation for imported items.

It is evident that many stakeholders are conflicting in this matter. What we should do for sustainable society is hardly clarified. No one can predict the exact influence of the continuous use of plastic materials. Therefore, decision-making is often done not rationally but by the balance of political power.

To be honest, I hardly imagine the future without plastic cups and plates. And I guess this progressive French regulation will not work for the better environment, unfortunately. Instead, investment in the system and technology of waste treatment will be beneficial.