BGermany’s Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) has warned supermarket operators to comply with the current ban on plastic bags in retail. The markets should do their part to curb the flood of disposable plastic and quickly remove “cheat bags” that circumvent the ban from the range, Lemke told the German Press Agency.
The background is a practice in supermarkets and drugstores, which the German Environmental Aid (DUH) also criticizes. Accordingly, supermarkets and discounters would simply make disposable plastic bags a few micrometers thicker in order to be able to offer them legally. This is possible because the ban that has been in effect since January 1, 2022 only applies to plastic bags with a wall thickness of 15 to a maximum of 49 micrometers.
appeal to voluntariness
“Fleeting the current law by simply making single-use bags slightly thicker is bad for the environment. I hope that there won’t be a need for legal regulation again,” said the minister, referring to the practice in supermarkets. The DUH had asked the Green politician to improve the law.
The environmental aid accuses markets of offering bags with wall thicknesses between 50 and 60 micrometers in order to circumvent the legal ban. This was the result of a survey of 13 German food retailers and drugstores, according to a statement published on Thursday. RTL/ntv had previously reported about it.
In connection with the plastic bag ban, Lemke also referred to a limited scope for action. For example, EU law is currently preventing a ban on thick-walled bags, said Lemke.
In Germany in 2019 – before the ban came into force – 1.49 billion lightweight plastic bags with wall thicknesses of less than 50 micrometers were put into circulation.
