Happy New Year to you all, and with this new year brings a new and outrageous law from the land of pasta and romance. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I weren’t witnessing it. It’s shocking, scandalous and down-right against my fundamental rights as a human. The “Green movement” the world over are cringing at Italy’s new law on those biodegradable plastic bags for fruit and vegetable purchases at the supermarket.
This is the war on plastic – Italian Style.
The following notice is now in all the supermarkets, it’s the gossip of 2018 around town and some people are fuming, some are taking it in stride, and some will not be silenced.
A brief translation of the notice:
- Starting January 1st, 2018 the new law about bio-degradable fruit and vegetable bags, under the ‘direttiva Europea 2015/720,’ comes into effect.
- The object is to decrease the use of plastic bags.
- All fruit and vegetable bags must be 100% biodegradable.
- The law also states that the supermarket cannot give out free bags.
- The price of each biodegradable bag must appear on the final receipt.
- There is a fine from €2,500 to €25,000 for anyone that violates the law.
- The cost of the biodegradable bags will range from area to area within Italy – here it’s .2cents.
- You may use the biodegradable bags only once. You may not bring them with you on a return visit, you must “buy” more bags.
- 3 ways to use the biodegradable bags.
Does anyone see any glaring contradictions here?
I sure do. How are we reducing the use of plastic bags if we are forced into paying for them, thus making use of something where there was no need in the first place? If, and only if I use the bag I will pay for it, I have no problem paying for something that I choose to have (not you). How can you charge me for something I have no need for? The following text is from a Facebook post that is gathering momentum. People are outraged and angry and we should be.
Dear Ministero dell’Ambiente,
You suck.
I am just back from the supermarket and I am steaming mad! I mean, I was prepared for your idiocy by the newspaper articles and news spots on tv, but I never imagined it would anger me so.
Just in case you don’t understand your new law, I’ve laid it out for you here – Italy has a new law – you now pay for those fruit and veg bags at the supermarket, even if you don’t use them. No problem paying for them ‘if’ I use them, however, this is Italy and things never make sense. I was automatically charged .4c for the two bags, and you can see that I didn’t use them.
But… I decided to take the bags, only because I’m being FORCED to buy them. How is forcing someone to pay for something they never use good for the environment? Why are the people who recycle and take it seriously being punished for those who do not?
What good recycler would put two onions in a plastic bag, and one small cauliflower in a plastic bag?
This is just another money grabbing scheme by the Italian gov’t and if you look at it closely, makes no sense whatsoever!!
Why don’t you just increase the cost of fruit and veg instead of forcing people to pay for plastic that is fucking useless, much like you?
So, considering the forced payment, I will collect all the bags that I paid for but didn’t need or use, and after a year of collecting I will show you how much money you robbed from me and how much unnecessary plastic you, yes you, put into the world.
Give your head a shake.
Sincerely
One pissed off recycling Canadian living in Italy.
That post got a lot of people talking and it’s a great discussion that we need to have. Some excellent points were brought up like:
- Put stickers on each piece of fruit or vegetable to get away without paying for the bio-degradable bag. Great idea, however, once that apple or 3kgs of fennel are scanned at the computer, the computer recognizes it as ‘produce’ and automatically charges you anywhere from 2c-10c.
- Seeing as we can’t escape this some people will re-use the bio-degradable bag to clean up after their dogs. Most excellent idea!!
- I’ll just bring my own bags from home. You can and you can’t. You can use your own tote to ‘carry-out’ your groceries. You can’t use your own mesh bags or other bags of any type for vegetable and fruit purchases.
- I’ll just shop at the local farmer’s market. I love this idea, and it’s what we need to be doing all along, however, again the local farmer’s market also provides those bio-degradable bags for your purchase of 35 clementines, 12 apples and 7 lemons. I believe this law also applies to the local farmer’s markets. I will find out on Monday and keep you updated.
- It’s about hygiene. Not it’s not. It’s about money. Any good supermarket is clean, and every ‘cash-out’ area should be clean and free of germs before and after each new client.
This law smells fishy, like a subtle attempt at extortion. It’s about the big corporations making more money and staying in business.
Maybe someone somewhere in the ranks of Italian bureaucracy owed someone a favour, and a deal was hatched to produce 80 billion tons of biodegradable bags and force consumers to use/pay for them – then they laughed as zero’s were added to their bank statements and taken from those trying to be good law-abiding citizens who are aware but rendered stuck in a puddle of amazing ignorance.
Who knows. That’s just my two cents.
