Cups, cutlery, plates, single-use plastic straws… These items, which have been banned since the 2020 Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy (AGEC), continue to be sold freely on numerous online sales platforms and in stores. In response to this flagrant violation of legislation, France Nature Environnement and Surfrider Foundation Europe have decided to take action by issuing a formal notice against five retailers: Amazon, Temu, Metro, La Foir’fouille, and La Boutique du Jetable.
Legal Action to End Illegal Sales
The two environmental organizations are demanding the immediate removal of these illegal products from both e-commerce sites and physical store shelves. The retailers in question now have a three-month deadline to comply with the law. Should concrete measures not be implemented by the end of this period, France Nature Environnement and Surfrider will take the matter to court to halt these sales and protect citizens’ health as well as the environment.
One positive initial response has already occurred: Metro quickly removed the problematic products from its e-commerce site, demonstrating that swift action is possible when there is willingness to act.
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Single-Use Plastic: A Scourge for Health and the Environment
These products are not merely illegal; they also represent a major threat to our health and our planet. As their name suggests, single-use plastic items are designed to be used once before being discarded, thereby generating an astronomical quantity of waste.
A Proven Health Threat
Plastic is extremely dangerous, particularly when it comes into contact with food. More than 16,000 chemical substances are used in plastic production, yet only 161 are classified as “non-hazardous” due to a severe lack of knowledge about these substances.
An Ecological Disaster on All Levels
The production of plastic, derived from petroleum, is particularly polluting. Its production alone accounts for 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. From raw material extraction to waste management, plastic massively contributes to the global climate crisis and the depletion of natural resources.
In France, approximately 4.5 million tons of plastic waste are generated annually, of which only 23% is recycled. The remainder ends up in nature, particularly in the ocean.
Under the effects of wind, UV rays, oxygen, and temperature, this waste gradually fragments into microplastics. Half of secondary microplastics come from single-use food packaging. These particles are ingested by marine species—birds, fish, mammals, plants—resulting in concerning effects: decreased food intake, suffocation risks, behavioral changes, and genetic modifications. Moving up the food chain, these particles may even potentially end up on our plates.
If current policies remain unchanged, the situation will only worsen. According to the OECD, by 2060, plastic releases into the environment are expected to double, reaching 44 million tons per year, while the quantity of plastics accumulated in aquatic environments will more than triple.
The AGEC Law: An Ambitious but Insufficiently Enforced Text
In response to this alarming situation, France adopted the Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy (AGEC) on February 10, 2020, as an extension of the European SUP (Single-Use Plastic) directive. This law, which comprises 130 articles aimed at combating waste, sets ambitious goals: reducing single-use packaging by 20% by 2025 and eliminating all single-use plastics by 2040.
To achieve this, the law prohibits certain single-use plastic products, including cutlery, straws, disposable cup lids, and expanded polystyrene containers.
Deficient Enforcement
Unfortunately, as this legal action reveals, the legislation is not being respected. In other cases, companies circumvent these prohibitions by affixing misleading labels such as “recyclable” or “reusable” on products that absolutely are not.
Attacked from all sides by industry stakeholders, without genuine means of oversight and in the absence of truly dissuasive sanctions, many measures are currently ineffective. The result is unequivocal: we are not on the right trajectory to achieve the objectives set by the AGEC law. On the contrary, packaging production increased by 3% between 2021 and 2023.
It is crucial that France take the necessary measures to demand the removal of these illegal products, sanction offending companies, but also grant more powers and resources to the Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), which is responsible for monitoring law enforcement.
At a time when industry lobbies want to bury the AGEC law—and they say so explicitly—France must act to preserve and strengthen this essential legislation for moving away from an all-plastic economy.