Four years, in the world we live in, which is increasingly interconnected and marked by constant political upheavals and sudden technological developments, is now equivalent to a geological era.
Regulations and related legislation are no exception. In fact, four years have passed since the 2021 European legislation that, as RGLife already reported at the time., banned in EU territories single-use plastic plates, cutlery, straws, Q-tips, drink mixers, and balloon sticks, which made up an estimated 70 percent of marine litter.
Four years, even though the approval of the standard dates back to 2018, in which we have gone through a pandemic and prices of eco-friendly raw materials have skyrocketed, which has not allowed for a straightforward enforcement path and no decisive steps forward in the adoption of non-polluting materials.
>>> Also read about RGLife: Biodegradable or compostable? Everything you need to know about eco-friendly materials.
EU 2024 plastic packaging legislation.
If globally it seems impossible to agree on the problem of plastic, at the European level, the most recent and hard-hitting legislation dates back to March 2024, when the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union agreed on a new regulation on packaging and its disposal through collection and recycling. The regulation aims to decrease waste, with the goal of reducing plastic packaging by 5 percent by 2030, 10 percent by 2035, and 15 percent by 2040.
Restricting to the restaurant and surrounding area, the new legislation calls for a gradual ban from 2030 on disposable plastic packaging and single-use non-recyclable packaging used in bars and restaurants for sauces, sugar and condiments, while services that provide take-away food and drinks will have to ensure consumers can use their own bottles and containers.
England's 2023 single-use plastic products law
England, while not part of the European Union, chose the same path in late 2023, banning the use of disposable plastic plates, cutlery, and food trays. In 2020, England had already banned the use of some single-use plastic products, such as straws, Q-tips, and drink stir sticks.
These are measures imposed by shocking numbers, namely 4 billion pieces of cutlery used, but only 10 percent recycled, resulting in huge environmental impacts.
The French 2023 law on washable and reusable tableware
One has to go to France and go back to the beginning of 2023 for a European Union country to enact a law for the use of washable and reusable crockery in fast food restaurants and generally in eating places with more than 20 seats, instead of the classic disposable packaging. The goal was always to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced each year, at the time based on proposed European legislation later superseded by the 2024 legislation.
In addition to customers' distrust in trusting the cleanliness of reusable containers, the new law has necessitated no small changes in establishments, such as finding adequate space to install the dishwashers needed to quickly clean large quantities of cutlery and containers.
A few numbers: 30 thousand French eateries belonging to fast food chains; 6 billion meals sold each year; 180 thousand tons of waste, most of it from meals consumed directly within the premises.
The global debate over plastic straws.
An important but often underestimated factor is that a plastic container that is well stored and then properly recycled pollutes less than a bio container disposed of in the wrong way.
Since 2015, particularly in the United States, the crosshairs have been set on plastic straws, of which 170 to 390 million are consumed every day in the country. The 'Be Straw Free' campaign has become one of the most effective of the environment-related campaigns carried out in the 1910s, but despite the concrete results we set out above, according to an interpretation by the site specializing in environmental issues 'Grist,' it has ended up focusing people's attention too much on a circumscribed problem, eventually losing sight of the general magnitude of single-use plastic consumption.
Indeed, many environmentalists have pointed out the concentration of too much political and media attention on one item, giving people the idea that by giving it up they were making a more useful gesture than it actually was, constituting just 0.025 percent of the 8 million tons of plastic deposited in the oceans each year, and getting a pass on everything else.
From the arcane video in which a 10-centimeter straw was pulled from the nostril of a sea turtle in Costa Rica, to the 2015 study that revealed that more than half of the world's sea turtles had ingested plastic, thousands of restaurants stopped using plastic straws, replacing them with paper straws, which, however, get soggy and flake; metal straws, which do not bend; and silicone straws, which are difficult to clean; bioplastic straws, which require specific production and disposal methods, but which are not always followed.
Leaving aside 'greenwashing' and environmentalism in this context, we thus return to theactual usefulness of the war on plastic straws without a reliable and environmentally sustainable alternative, without forgetting that all relevant surveys have shown that banning straws has not led to a reduction in disposable plastic.
RGmania's best recyclable plastic containers
RGmania therefore offers you for the occasion its best containers as a quality/price ratio and at the level of respect for the environment, being made of easily disposable and recyclable plastic, ideal for take-away and doggy bag:
Wowipack line: black polypropylene container, in two sizes, for mussel peppings;
transparent polypropylene container: 19x18.5x4.9 cm e from 15.8x15.5x5.3 cm, for pasta, side dishes and salads;
Ondipack line: transparent polypropylene container, in three sizes, for pasta and juicy pasta dishes;
Optipack line: transparent pet container, 100 cl e 75 cl, for side dishes and both sweet and savory entrees;
Deliverypack line: black polypropylene container, in three sizes e 55 cl, for hot and cold foods;
Marmipack line: black polypropylene container, up to 90 cl, for any kind of food;
Standipack line: transparent plastic container, 150 cl., for salads and cold foods.
And don't miss, also on our website, the category dedicated to take-away and disposable products!
