France places nation-wide ban on plastic cups and cutlery

Compounding on an effort to cut the amount of waste sent to landfills in half by 2025, the French government has banned the use of plastic cups and cutlery.

Findings show that 4.73 billion plastic cups are currently thrown away in France every year, with only 1 percent recycled.   This gross mismanagement of resources is the main reason the French government voted to ban the plastic in 2015 as part of the Energy Transition For Green Growth bill.  The ban is set to go into effect in 2020, giving companies enough time to phase out the material.

Pack2Go Europe, a Brussels-based organization representing European packaging manufacturers, has stepped in to fight the change, fearing it could spread throughout Europe.

"We are urging the European Commission to do the right thing and to take legal action against France for infringing European law," Pack2Go Europe secretary general Eamonn Bates told The Associated Press. "If they don't, we will."

He argues that people will leave their trash laying around more if they think the material comes from “bio-sourced plastics.”  Though it sounds like a stretch, the opposition is expected.