The French government on Tuesday postponed a ban on plastic throwaway cups by four years to 2030 because of difficulties finding alternatives.
The ban was meant to start on January 1, but the ministry for ecological transition said that results from a recent review into the “technical feasibility of eliminating plastic from cups” justified pushing back the deadline.
It said in an official decree that a new review would be carried out in 2028 of “progress made in replacing single-use plastic cups”. It added that the ban would now start January 1, 2030, when companies would have 12 months to get rid of their stock.
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France has gradually rolled out bans on single-use plastic products over the past decade as environmental campaigners step up warnings about their impact on rivers and oceans.
A 2020 law set a deadline of 2040 to eliminate all single-use plastics. A ban on plastic bags for loads of less than 1.5kg (3.3 pounds) of 30 fruits and vegetables was introduced in 2022 and has dramatically changed supermarket habits.
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The postponement marked “yet another step backwards in the fight against plastic pollution, under pressure from lobby groups”, said Manon Richert, a spokeswoman for the environmental group Zero Waste France.