France to Prohibit Plastic Packaging for All Fruit, Vegetables By 2022

In a step intended to eliminate the Environmental Crisis, France decided to prohibit and ban plastic packaging for almost all fruit and vegetables from January 2022, the environment ministry revealed on Monday.

The French government declared a list of about 30 fruits and vegetables that will have to be sold without plastic packaging from Jan. 1. The list includes leeks, aubergines, and round tomatoes as well as apples, bananas, and oranges.

In a statement, the Ministry of Environment said: "We use an outrageous amount of single-use plastic in our daily lives. The circular economy law aims at cutting back the use of throwaway plastic and boost its substitution by other materials or reusable and recyclable packaging."

It is estimated that nearly 37% of fruit and vegetables are sold with packaging and expects that the measure will prevent more than one billion useless plastic packaging items per year.