According to Euwid, 5,000 to 7,000 tons of plastic carrier bags will be consumed in Austria each year. According to a draft that the Austrian government recently submitted to the EU Commission for notification, it intends to reduce this quantity as far as possible from next year. Accordingly, only light plastic bags made of renewable raw materials and suitable for composting according to the state of the art as well as stable reusable bags will be excluded from the ban. Carrier bags purchased before the end of this year could also be issued until the end of 2020. According to Euwid, the Austrian government, according to its own statements, wants to meet EU requirements absolutely certain against the background of an infringement procedure by the EU Commission. The government expects the measure to at least halve the number of very light plastic carrier bags by 2024 compared to 2015, when 466 million such bags were still on the market. In the year 2017 it was still 388 million pieces.
Sources:
- Euwid Recycling and Disposal 19/2019 (7.5.2019)
- Photo: Fotolia