Hainan to Shut Single-Use Non-Degradable Plastics Manufacturers; France Sets Staged Produce Packaging Ban

The scale of single-use plastic consumption in everyday life has become hard to ignore. In response, China and a growing number of other countries are rolling out environmental rules aimed at cutting disposable plastic use and shifting toward reusable formats and alternative materials.

On October 27, the Hainan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment released the Hainan Province Eco-Environmental Access List (2021 Edition). The list introduces a negative-list approach to industrial access, bars high-energy-consumption, high-pollution and high-emission industries as well as low-end manufacturing, and calls for the full phase-out and shutdown of producers of single-use non-degradable plastic products that appear on Hainan's plastics ban list.

Coming after Hainan's market-wide ban on sales of single-use plastic packaging products, the measure targets the production side. Its aim is to remove the local source of disposable plastic goods and support the province's green rise plan.

France, meanwhile, is taking a staged approach to plastic packaging for fresh produce: dozens of vegetables and fruits will be covered by a ban next year, with the scope widened to all produce five years later.

France's Ministry of the Environment published the list on the 11th. Starting January 1 next year, roughly 30 types of vegetables and fruits—including leeks, eggplants, tomatoes, apples, bananas and oranges—cannot use plastic packaging.

A limited group of perishable items—cherry tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, cherries and strawberries—may still use plastic packaging next year, but the practice will be phased out, with all such produce moving to loose sale before July 2026.

Estimates suggest that nearly 40% of vegetables and fruits sold in the French market are wrapped in plastic. Once the ban takes effect, more than 1 billion unnecessary plastic packages could be avoided each year.

Under the government's plastics reduction plan, France began prohibiting plastic straws, cups, cutlery and foam takeaway food containers in 2021. From 2022, publications cannot be transported in plastic packaging; fast-food outlets cannot provide free plastic toys; and public places must install drinking water taps to cut the use of plastic beverage bottles.

This article is republished from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378588.html