France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the cost of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, an environment ministry official said on Sunday, reports The Telegraph.
Brune Poirson, secretary of state for ecological transition, said the move was one of several to be implemented in coming years, including a deposit-refund scheme for plastic bottles.
"Declaring war on plastic is not enough. We need to transform the French economy," she told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
Under the new plan, products with recycled plastic packaging could cost up to 10 percent less, while those containing non-recycled plastic up to 10 percent more, Ms Poirson said.
"When there's a choice between two bottles, one made of recycled plastic and the other without, the first will be less expensive," she said.
Emmanuel Guichard of the Elipso federation of plastic packaging makers gave a cautious welcome to the plan.
"For bottles, giving consumers a choice is possible. But we can't forget other items - today there's no recycled plastics available for yogurt pots," he said.
"We're hoping that companies play the game so that clients aren't the ones penalised" by the new measure, said Flore Berlingen of the association Zero Waste France.
The French government also aims to increase taxes on burying trash in landfills while cutting taxes for recycling operations, hoping to address the growing problem of tonnes of plastic finding its way into oceans.
In a sign of growing public awareness of the problem, France is among several countries hit recently by a wave of "plastic attacks" - where shoppers dump all the packaging of their purchases outside stores.
"When non-recycled plastic will cost more, that will eliminate much of the excessive packaging," Ms Poirson said.