Green party calls for ban on single-use plastic bags
Flanders should follow the other regions in introducing a ban on the bags, which cause a serious threat to the environment, Groen has said, while organisations call for a deposit scheme for bottles and cans
Time to follow suit
According to a report by the party, Belgians use more than one billion of the bags every year, adding to the problem of plastic pollution. They are persistent in the environment and constitute a danger to wildlife on land and in the water, and the cost of cleaning them up, according to the party, is €61.5 million in Flanders and Brussels.
Since 2004, a number of businesses have provided, usually at a minimal cost, recyclable and re-usable plastic bags. Brussels banned single-use bags in September, and Wallonia at the end of last year. “Flanders now has to follow suit,” said Groen member of the Brussels parliament Annemie Maes.
Flemish environment minister Joke Schauvliege supports the ban and announced a proposal in February, but it came to nothing without the support of coalition partner Open VLD. “We prefer to take measures with the sector,” said Open VLD minister Bart Tommelein.
Returnable deposit
Meanwhile, a group of environmental organisations called Recycling Netwerk has revived a call for a deposit to be paid on drinks cans and plastic bottles, in an effort to improve recycling and remove them from general waste. The call comes after it was proposed that the blue PMD bag be used for more types of plastic that are currently not permitted.
“More types of plastic in the blue bag is a good thing, but PET bottles and cans have to come out,” Rob Buurman of the network told De Zondag. The organisations favour the German system, where shoppers pay a returnable deposit of 25 cents on bottles and cans, as they do with a 10c deposit on many glass bottles.
“In Germany about 98% of these bottles are recycled,” Buurman said. “With the blue bag in Flanders it’s only 62%, and a lot of bottles and cans find their way into the general waste and public bins because they’re considered worthless. Either that or they remain lying around in nature.”
Schauvliege supports the idea but is waiting for the evaluation of a test project running in some municipalities. Self-employed union NSZ argues that it would burden small retailers with added costs and storage problems.
Photo: Ingimage
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